PROVIDENCE — In apparent violation of its own rules, the committee that evaluates whether companies qualify for the millions of state and federal construction dollars earmarked for “disadvantaged” minorities attempted to hold a closed-door hearing today on whether the daughters of the Rosciti construction family qualify.

Late yesterday, however, in the face of public criticism — and intervention from the governor’s office — the Minority Business Enterprise Certification Review Committee chaired by Charles C. Newton reversed course and agreed to let the controversy play out in open session.

Christina Rosciti, 33, is the president, and her cousin Jennifer Rosciti, 22, is the vice president/treasurer of the year-old King Philip Corp. Daughters of the retired principals in Rosciti Construction, the women are seeking certification of their company, which specializes in heavy construction, utilities and equipment rental, as a minority-owned business enterprise.

A compliance officer has questioned the legitimacy of their application, based in part on a finding that neither woman has paid federal income taxes the last three years.

In her report to the committee in July, compliance officer Dorinda Keene recommended a hearing to give the Rosciti cousins a chance to address “issues of control, dependency upon non-minority individuals, affiliation with and dependency upon non-minority firms, and the appearance that the firm was created solely to participate in [programs intended for minority-owned businesses].”

On Keene’s advice, the members of the certification-review committee voted in July to offer the Roscitis a hearing which, after one postponement, was posted for today. The committee’s own rules state: “The hearings will be open to the public.”

But Newton, who is also the administrator of the state’s minority-business program, initially posted an agenda that cited exemptions within the state’s Open Meetings Law for labor negotiations, discussions of employee job performance and “investigative proceedings regarding allegations of misconduct” as grounds for closing today’s hearing on the application.

Newton, who has also refused to make public the Roscitis’ application for minority status, did not answer inquiries yesterday.

But after being apprised of the attempt to close the meeting, Governor Carcieri’s press secretary Jeff Neal made public a late day e-mail in which in-house lawyer Peter N. Dennehy said he “would have worded the agenda differently,” but it was his belief the MBE office “always intended” to hold the hearing in open session.

Earlier in the day, Steven Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, chided the committee for attempting to do its business in secret: “It’s always a cause for concern when executive session agendas use a kitchen-sink approach, citing a bunch of exemptions for going into private session in the hope that maybe one of them will actually apply.”

“The minority-business enterprise statute was set up for a very beneficial purpose,” Brown said. “It recognizes that minority businesses were often disfavored or, at least, couldn’t get in the front door for many years in getting government contracts and to the extent the statute recognizes the need to encourage minority business activity, it’s a good thing.

“However, it’s important that the public be able to monitor the committee’s actions and how it makes its determinations as to whether a business in fact meets the criteria and becomes eligible for significant business with the state,” Brown said. “Unless the committee is actually investigating possible misconduct of the King Philip Corporation, I don’t think there is any basis for closing the meeting. It is not an examination of job performance. It’s an examination of a company’s meeting the criteria for getting this status.” At stake are millions of state and federal dollars reserved for “socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.”

The list includes those who are black, Hispanic, American Indian, Asian, Portuguese and women. Each project has an assigned minority hiring goal. Federal rules say: “Any female qualifies as a special class of minority.”

But size matters. Under criteria set by the U.S. Small Business Administration, the King Philip Corporation “would most likely fall under” the threshold for “Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction,” which includes the excavation and laying of pipe for water and sewer lines, according to Keene. In most cases, the maximum size standard for certification is $31 million in gross sales, with the exception of projects financed by the U.S. Department of Transportation. For those, the standard cap is $20,410,000 (based on a three-year gross sales average).

At the state DOT, the program gets credit for $40 million in contract commitments and the actual payment of $1.5 million in completed-project dollars to minority businesses last year alone. The $40 million reflects minority-hiring commitments on 125 contracts, of which 9 went to “Black Americans,” 5 to “Hispanic Americans,” 5 to “Asian Pacific Americans,” 56 to a “non-minority woman” and 40 to “other(s),” identified broadly by the DOT as Portuguese business owners.

Against this backdrop, the Minority Business Enterprise Certification Review Committee chaired by Newton holds monthly meetings to decide who qualifies.Christina and Jennifer Rosciti are, respectively, the daughters of Anthony and Henry Rosciti Sr., the retired principals in Rosciti Construction, of Johnston, and affiliated companies. Their brothers followed their fathers into the family businesses.

Jennifer Rosciti lives at home with her parents; Christine Rosciti lives in a condo purchased by her father. Neither has paid federal taxes the last three years, according to Keene’s evaluation of their bid for minority status.

Keene raised “numerous issues of concern” in her report evaluating the application. Among them: “Neither applicant has been able to demonstrate that capital contributions came from personal funds.”

Taking stock of where the King Philip Corp. fits into a family tree that includes more than a dozen affiliated companies, Keene wrote: “It does not appear the company owned any equipment whatsoever until March 20, 2007. All equipment allegedly utilized up to that date was rented or leased from Rosciti Construction and/or Castle.”

And when asked questions about their business, Keene said the women “indicated that all materials and supplies needed for projects are purchased directly from Rosciti Construction, and that the firm does not currently have arrangements or accounts with any materials suppliers directly.”

Further inquiry by The Providence Journal also uncovered questions about work they said their company did at the Barrington pump station.

At the time of her June 22 site visit, Keene said, “the applicant” indicated that the company had been awarded several earlier contracts, including “a contract with Capco dated 7/1/06 for the Barrington Pump Station.” But when asked about the company’s role in that project, Barrington Public Works Director Alan Corvi said neither Capco Steel, the King Philip Corp. nor any known Rosciti affiliate had any role in the $6-million pump station upgrade.

Told this, Christina Rosciti insisted: “We did the job.” She suggested there may have been confusion about who did the work because “you see, what we do is we lease our employees to Rosciti Construction . . . but we pay our employees out of King Philip Corporation.”

kgregg@projo.com