BART Gets a Little Queerer - SF Weekly

The train system's Board wants to hire more LGBT contractors.Nuala Sawyer  SF Weekly |  Wed Aug 30th, 2017In fiscal 2018, BART will work with a whopping (but very easily spent) budget of $1.92 billion. The funds are earmarked for new trains, track maintenance, station canopies, security, and earthquake retrofits — among other things. With every cent of the transportation agency’s budget under scrutiny, it is easiest to hire big companies whose fees are lower than those of their smaller counterparts. But in an effort to keep much of this money in the Bay Area, BART’s Board of Directors launched a Small Business Program in September 2011, providing a 5 percent “bid preference” for qualified small businesses — essentially giving them a boost over the competition.Six years later, BART’s Board is revisiting the program, and now pledges to identify and support LGBT small-business owners.READ MORE