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Rauner Moves To Get More State Contracts To Women, Minorities

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Gov. Bruce Rauner has signed an executive order he said will increase the number of women- and minority-owned businesses that receive state contracts.

Loop Capital CEO James Reynolds, who advocates for black-owned businesses with the Business Leadership Council, said governors have avoided the issue for years.

"We have been pushing for decades just to find out the percentage of business that was done with the state, and no governor would ever tell us," he said.

A recent study found what Reynolds called blatant discrimination towards women- and minority-owned businesses.

Rauner, after signing the order at a Pilsen tech incubator, said that will change.

"We set goals for minority participation in state contracts. People talk about it, nobody does anything about it. Well I'm a business guy. We're going to do something about it starting right now," he said.

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The governor said insiders have always had a leg up, and that's what the executive order seeks to change, but he said more needs to be done to help women- and minority-owned businesses compete for state contracts.

"One of the things I've got to do is streamline our procurement process. It's a nightmare, and it makes disadvantaged businesses even more disadvantaged, because if you're not sophisticated, if you're not big, if you don't have a big bureaucracy, going through that maze, it's hard," he said.

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