[Pearls Before Swine]

The suspicion is that it's in regard to no bid contracts being given out to friends/supporters and family.

This type of set aside differs from the anonymous set-aside of affirmative action...how?

[LenS]

No bid means that there was no competition or notice of a contract up for bid. The contracts were simply assigned to someone. Generally, no bid contracts are only supposed to be for rather small stuff where prices are low and pretty generic (or for some emergencies -- i.e. a bridge falls down and needs to replaced yesterday).

Minority set asides require that a certain percentage of contracts should go to minorities. But competitive bidding is still required. A higher bid might be accepted if the bidder is a minority and the bid is close. But the bid isn't just given without bidding or notice.