APTA seeks USDOT guidance on proposal to end DBE provisions

The U.S. Department of Transportation on May 28 filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky to remove race- and sex-based presumptions from its Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program. 

The DBE program was established in the early 1980s and was reauthorized by Congress in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 to remedy discrimination in transportation contracting for infrastructure projects that receive federal funding.

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) reported in website post that recent litigation, including in the Mid-America Milling Co. case, have challenged whether the program violates the U.S. Constitution. Under a proposed settlement, the USDOT will prohibit federal aid funding of projects incorporating DBE contract goals. The settlement has yet to be approved by the U.S. District Court, which is likely to consider arguments from several organizations and companies that support the DBE program. Many of those entities have intervened as parties in the litigation, according to APTA.

Although the proposed settlement applies to the federal DBE program, it does not apply to similar laws at state and local levels, according to APTA. The association is asking USDOT to issue guidance regarding the implications of the proposed settlement.

"Public transportation depends on a broad array of contractor networks to deliver important projects and services to our communities," said APTA President and CEO Paul Skoutelas. "The DBE program is about small businesses and expands opportunities while providing access to the full range of capabilities needed to build and maintain our public transportation systems.”