The U.S. Dept. of Transportation’s disadvantaged business enterprise program was designed to support the development and growth of legitimate DBEs. But the way the program is currently written, interpreted and administered actually defeats those purposes and undermines the goal. Recent DBE fraud prosecutions, most of which involve the test of whether a commercially useful function has been performed, have led some contractors to respond with overzealous and incorrect interpretations of the rules for regular dealers (our firm falls into this category of company).As background, all 50 states must comply with the DBE program. U.S. DOT serves as the administrator and

During the past year, district attorneys have sought to stem abuses by contractors who use illegitimate disadvantaged business enterprises (DBEs) on U.S. Dept. of Transportation-funded projects.