The U.S. Justice Department has issued an unusual call for public comment on proposed new affirmative action guidelines.

Issuing the request through the Federal Register, the department lays out three new principles of affirmative action that would govern government contracting if adopted. "We will take all the comments very seriously," said Bill Yeomans, acting deputy attorney general for civil rights.

The new principles do not change any existing affirmative action policies but, if adopted,will be the basis for new rules for federal contracting. Public colleges and universities could be affected by these new guidelines, if adopted, in the way they award contracts to outside vendors.

This is part of the process President Bill Clinton called for when he said that affirmative action should be "mended," but not ended. It is also, Yeomans said, the federal government's response to the Supreme Court ruling in the case Adarand vs. Pena, which held that race-based affirmative action programs are subject to the constitutional standard of "strict scrutiny."

The first of the proposed new principles tightens the requirements for firms designated SDBs (socially and economically disadvantaged businesses). The second requires federal agencies to use as many outreach and technical support mechanisms as they can before resorting to affirmative action. The third principle establishes what are called "benchmarks" against which contracts will be judged.

For example, when a federal government agency requests bids for a product or service, it will determine -- using complex statistical methods -- what percentage of that product or service would have been provided by minority-owned firms if it had not been for historical discrimination. If the bids do not reflect that benchmark percentage, then a "credit" will be awarded those SDBs that bid. Once SDB participation exceeds the benchmark, the credit would be lowered or suspended.