DOT takes action to help small and disadvantaged businesses rev up their engines

With the nation’s economic recovery advancing, it is more important than ever to fire up America’s small and disadvantaged businesses. And DOT is working to make sure that’s a natural part of how we do business.

Last week, DOT’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program issued a final rule that will help small and disadvantaged businesses gain greater access to federally funded highway, transit, and airport projects.

But this action goes further than just increasing access to opportunities.

Some of the additional benefits include:

• Making it easier to do business in multiple states: To reduce the burdens on firms seeking DBE certification in more than one state, the new rules require states to accept certifications from other states, unless there is good cause not to.
• Increasing the personal net worth cap: This is the first adjustment to the personal net worth (PNW) cap since it was first set in 1989. The adjustment, from $750,000 to $1.3 million, applies to highway, transit, and aviation parts of our DBE program.
• Increasing accountability: State and local transportation agencies must include DBEs in their spending plans. If they fail to meet established goals, they’ll have to evaluate why and create a plan to get them back on track.
• Generating greater small business participation: New tools to foster small business participation have been added, including a menu of options for recipients to use such as unbundling large contracts and establishing race-neutral small business set-asides.

To America's small and disadvantaged business owners, these changes will make a world of difference.

Small business owners discuss opportunities at a Small Business Vendor Day at DOT HQ.

Making sure the contracting process is open to everyone--big and small--helps ensure that America gets the best possible bang for our buck as we complete important infrastructure projects.

Leveling the playing field also encourages growth among DBE participants, which then allows them to grow, expand, and hire more employees. We know that small businesses are an engine of growth, so if they aren't doing business, the nation feels it.

As President Obama said in his State of the Union address last week, building America’s transportation infrastructure is absolutely critical to our economic future.  Building it wisely and well requires making sure all businesses get a chance to compete.