Imagine a high-stakes game worth $1.4 billion a year with thousands of players vying for the money. That's the picture historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) face each year as they try to access funds from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).

The Pentagon may offer a financial bonanza to colleges and universities, but HBCUs need both subject expertise and an aggressive outreach effort to win contracts, officials say.

"It's not easy to win funds, but it is possible," said Shaik Jeelani, Tuskegee University's vice president for research and sponsored programs. Tuskegee has won several DOD contracts, including a joint project with two other HBCUs and two traditionally White institutions (TWIs) to develop lightweight shields for army tanks.

Despite Pentagon efforts to target Black colleges, "The money is just not sitting there for you to grab," he says. "It's a very competitive process."

The Pentagon has an annual goal to award 5 percent of contract and subcontract dollars to minority and disadvantaged businesses, HBCUs and minority institutions. But official's are quick to point out the 5 percent is "a goal, not a specific set-aside," said a spokesman for The College Fund/UNCF, which works with Black colleges to gain defense dollars.

HBCUs also compete for funds with other institutions, including other colleges or universities where a single minority group or combination of groups represents more than 50 percent of total enrollment.

The University of Texas-El Paso and Illinois Institute of Technology are among non-HBCUs that have qualified for minority institution (MI) status, Jeelani said. The Illinois school alone has a larger graduate division than our undergraduate division, he adds.

Developing Relationships

In 1995, HBCUs won $76.1 million worth of DOD grants, according to the President's Board of Advisors on HBCUs. This figure represented 6 percent of all DOD awards to higher education that year.