Opinion ID: 171442
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: DoD Policy

Text: The district court properly found as an undisputed fact that the DoD, however mistakenly, determined eligibility for its set-aside program between 1994 and 2001 from the DoE's minority-institution lists, on which NMSU regularly appeared. The evidence unambiguously supports this conclusion. For instance, an April 1, 1994, memorandum from the Director of the DoD's Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization attached a list of institutions provided to DoD by the Office of Civil [R]ights within the Department of Education that qualify as minority institutions. App. at 629. According to that April 1994 memorandum, these schools were identified by the Department of Education in response to our request for a list of schools that meet the new minority institution criteria contained in Section 811 of P.L. 103-160. ... This list is effective immediately. Id. The April 1994 memorandum further stated that schools not appearing on the list should contact the Office of Civil [R]ights with the Department of Education and that the list should be distributed to the appropriate contracting activities. Id. NMSU appeared on that list. A 1996 announcement of DoD set-aside grants highlighted 10 U.S.C. § 2323(a)(1)(C), the statutory provision governing eligibility criteria, and then attached the most recent list of certified minority institutions meeting this criteria. App. at 886. The DoD announcement explained that this listspanning 1995 and 1996was compiled by the Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education, as specified in 20 U.S.C. 1135d-5(3), using enrollment data reported by postsecondary institutions. Id. Again, NMSU appeared on the DoE's list. [13] An August 2000 DoD announcement for university research grants encouraged proposals from minority institutions, noting that the Department of Education maintains the list of U.S. accredited postsecondary institutions that currently meet the statutory criteria for identification as minority institutions. App. at 689. Once more, NMSU appeared on the DoE's list for 2000. In November 2000, the Director of the DoD's Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization confirmed in a letter to the United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico that the DoD [h]istorically... has used and continues to use the MI list provided by the Department of Education as the official list of institutions eligible to participate in the HBCU/MI programs. Id. at 717. The November 2000 letter further identified the then-applicable DoD criteria, see 20 U.S.C. §§ 1059c, 1067k(3), as the criteria the DoE used to determine minority-institution status. App. at 718-19. The DoD's policy of relying upon the DoE's certification lists can be seen as an understandable, if unfortunate, byproduct of the relevant statutory scheme. From 1994 until 2000, the definition of minority institutions for the DoD set-aside program cross-referenced the definition of minority institutions under the HEA. 10 U.S.C. § 2323(a)(1)(C) (1994 & 2000). The HEA, in turn, imposed responsibility on the SOE to verify minority-institution status from data furnished by universities through enrollment surveys. 20 U.S.C. § 1135d-5(3) (1994) (recodified at 20 U.S.C. § 1067k(3) (2000)). This policy was then expressly enshrined in the regulations promulgated by the DoD. To be sure, these regulations did not directly predicate the definition of a minority institution upon a certification from the SOE, as they did for historically black colleges and universities. 48 C.F.R. § 252.226-7000(a) (2000) (Historically black colleges and universities, as used in this clause, means institutions determined by the Secretary of Education to meet the requirements of 34 CFR 608.2.); id. § 226.7005(b)(2) (noting that a list of HBCUs is published periodically by the Department of Education). However, they expressly permitted an offeror to demonstrate its minority-institution status, prior to receiving a DoD contract, by showing that the Secretary of Education has determined the offeror to be a historically black college or university or minority institution. 48 C.F.R. § 252.226-7000(c)(2) (2000).