USDOT Updates to the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program

Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs) may soon see benefits from a recently issued Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to modernize the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) and Airport Concession DBE (ACDBE) program regulations by the Biden-Harris Administration and the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT). The goal of these updated regulations is to further level the playing field for small, disadvantaged businesses seeking to compete for federally assisted aviation, highway, and transit contracts.

As part of the Federal government’s commitment to advancing equity and ensuring access to contracting opportunities, today the Biden-Harris Administration and the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to modernize the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) and Airport Concession DBE (ACDBE) program regulations. Spanning nearly 40 years and mandated by Congress, the DBE and ACDBE programs are intended to prevent discrimination, and remedy the continuing effects of past discrimination, against small businesses owned and controlled by disadvantaged individuals.

By modernizing the existing regulations, the NPRM proposed today would help further level the playing field for small, disadvantaged businesses seeking to compete for federally assisted aviation, highway, and transit contracts as well as airport concession opportunities. These changes are coming at a critically important time as small businesses will play an essential role in helping to build infrastructure made possible by the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. (Source: https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/biden-harris-administration-usdot-propose-improvements-disadvantaged-business)