Opinion ID: 679519
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Geographic Scope of the Data

Text: 23 Concrete Works contends that Croson precludes us from considering empirical evidence of discrimination in the six-county Denver Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). Instead, it would allow Denver only to use data describing discrimination within the City and County of Denver. 24 A majority in Croson observed that because discrimination varies across market areas, state and local governments cannot rely on national statistics of discrimination in the construction industry to draw conclusions about prevailing market conditions in their own regions. Id. at 504, 109 S.Ct. at 727. The relevant area in which to measure discrimination, then, is the local construction market, but that is not necessarily confined by jurisdictional boundaries. 25 The Denver MSA is defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget according to the existence of a population nucleus and the high degree of economic and social integration in the region. Aplt.App. at 495. Croson supports our consideration of data from the Denver MSA because this data is sufficiently geographically targeted to the relevant market area. The record reveals that over 80 percent of Denver Department of Public Works (DPW) construction and design contracts are awarded to firms located within the Denver MSA. 26 To confine the permissible data to a governmental body's strict geographical boundaries would ignore the economic reality that contracts are often awarded to firms situated in adjacent areas. It is important that the pertinent data closely relate to the jurisdictional area of the municipality whose program we scrutinize, but here Denver's contracting activity, insofar as construction work is concerned, is closely related to the Denver MSA. See Contractors Ass'n, 6 F.3d at 1003-09 (considering data from the Philadelphia MSA). The Denver MSA is thus an excellent proxy for the local construction market. Therefore, we hold that data from the Denver MSA is adequately particularized for strict scrutiny purposes.