The DBE program applies only to the Florida Department of Transportation FDOT , and is limited to highway and bridge construction, maintenance, and consultants involved in planning, design, right of way and construction inspection, and other federally funded contracts. FDOT puts forth great effort to educate minority businesses on these two separate and distinct programs.
Department of Transportation. Whose management and daily business operations are controlled by one or more of the socially and economically disadvantaged individuals who own it. The UCP provides "one-stop shopping" where disadvantaged businesses that meet the DBE certification requirements and become certified are eligible to be used to meet the DBE goal requirements on any project with funding from the U.
The UCP shall provide "one-stop shopping" to applicants for certification, such that an applicant is required to apply only once for a DBE certification and all recipients in the state will honor that certification. All obligations of recipients with respect to certification and nondiscrimination must be carried out by UCPs, and recipients may use only UCPs that comply with the certification and nondiscrimination requirements of 49 CFR Part A UCP is not required to process an application for certification from a firm having its principal place of business outside the state of Florida if the firm is not certified by the UCP in their "home state", where it maintains its principal place of business.
The following general guidelines, taken in part from the applicable regulation 49 CFR Part 26 ; will help business owners determine whether they are eligible for the DBE Program:. Persons who are not members of one of the aforementioned presumptive groups may also be eligible if they establish their "social" and "economic" disadvantaged on an individual basis.
A determination of whether an individual meets DBE eligibility criteria is made on a case-by-case basis. Items excluded from a person's net worth calculation include an individual's ownership interest in the applicant firm, and the equity in his or her primary residence. Business Size Determination - A firm, including its affiliates must be a small business as defined by SBA size standards. The U. Department of Transportation periodically adjusts this threshold for inflation.
Independence - The business must not rely on another firm or firms in such a way as to compromise its independence and control. Control - A disadvantaged owner seeking certification must possess the power to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies of the firm. The owner must also have an overall understanding of, and managerial and technical competence and experience directly related to, the type of business in which the firm is engaged.
Burden of Proof Allocation - Applicants carry the burden of proof regarding their eligibility and must demonstrate with a preponderance of evidence that they meet all requirements concerning group membership or individual disadvantaged status, business size, independence, ownership, and control.
Additional program requirements and certification procedures are found in Regulation, 49 CFR Parts 23 and If the firm engages in or intends to engage in: Primarily road, highway or bridge construction or maintenance related goods or services submit the DBE application to the FDOT; Primarily airport related goods or services submit the DBE application to the Federal Aviation Administration FAA Certifying Member closest to your primary business or with the FAA Certifying Member whom you have an on-going contractual relationship; Primarily transit related goods and services, including concessions submit the DBE application to the Federal Transit Administration FTA Certifying Member closest to your primary place of business or with the FTA Certifying Member whom you have an on-going contractual relationship.
If you are an existing DBE firm, the following documentation must be provided:. A complete copy of the application form, all supporting documents, and any other information you have submitted to your home state or any other state related to your firm's certification.
This includes affidavits of no change and any notices of changes that you have submitted, as well as any correspondences concerning your application or status as a DBE firm. Any notices or correspondence from states other than your home state relating to your status as an applicant or certified DBE in those states, including facts and all documentation concerning if your firm was denied certification or decertified.
You must submit the Interstate Application Affidavit sworn to by the firm's owners before a person who is authorized by State law to administer oaths executed under penalty of perjury of the laws of the United States. The processing time is approximately 60 days from the date the completed application and support documentation is provided to our office. In determining whether socially and economically disadvantaged owners control a firm, the certifier must consider all the facts in the record, viewed as a whole.
Only an independent business may be certified as a DBE. An independent business is one the viability of which does not depend on its relationship with another firm or firms. In considering factors related to the independence of a potential DBE firm, the certifier must consider the consistency of relationships between the potential DBE and non-DBE firms with normal industry practice.
A DBE firm must not be subject to any formal or informal restrictions, which limit the customary discretion of the socially and economically disadvantaged owners. There can be no restrictions through corporate charter provisions, by-law provisions, contracts or any other formal or informal devices e. The socially and economically disadvantaged owners must possess the power to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies of the firm and to make day-to-day as well as long-term decisions on matters of management, policy and operations.
A disadvantaged owner must hold the highest officer position in the company e. In a corporation, disadvantaged owners must control the board of directors. In a partnership, one or more disadvantaged owners must serve as general partners, with control over all partnership decisions.
Such individuals must not, however possess or exercise the power to control the firm, or be disproportionately responsible for the operation of the firm.
The socially and economically disadvantaged owners of the firm may delegate various areas of the management, policymaking, or daily operations of the firm to other participants in the firm, regardless of whether these participants are socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. Such delegations of authority must be revocable, and the socially and economically disadvantaged owners must retain the power to hire and fire any person to whom such authority is delegated.
Generally, expertise limited to office management, administration, or bookkeeping functions unrelated to the principal business activities of the firm is insufficient to demonstrate control.
However, the certifier may take into account the absence of the license or credential as one factor in determining whether the socially and economically disadvantaged owners actually control the firm.
The certifier may consider differences in remuneration between the socially and economically disadvantaged owners and other participants in the firm in determining whether to certify a firm as a DBE. In a case where a non-disadvantaged individual formerly controlled the firm, and a socially and economically disadvantaged individual now controls it, the certifier may consider a difference between the remuneration of the former and current controller of the firm as a factor in determining who controls the firm, particularly when the non-disadvantaged individual remains involved with the firm and continues to receive greater compensation than the disadvantaged individual.
In order to be viewed as controlling a firm, a socially and economically disadvantaged owner cannot engage in outside employment or other business interests that conflict with the management of the firm or prevent the individual from devoting sufficient time and attention to the affairs of the firm to control its activities.
For example, absentee ownership of a business and part-time work in a full-time firm are not viewed as constituting control. Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph, the certifier must make a judgment about the control the socially and economically disadvantaged owner exercises vis-a-vis other persons involved in the business as the certifier do in other situations, without regard to whether or not the other persons are immediate family members. In determining whether a firm is controlled by its socially and economically disadvantaged owners, the certifier may consider whether the firm owns equipment necessary to perform its work.
However, the certifier must not determine that a firm is not controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals solely because the firm leases, rather than owns, such equipment, where leasing equipment is a normal industry practice and the lease does not involve a relationship with a prime contractor or other party that compromises the independence of the firm.
The certifier must grant certification to a firm only for specific types of work in which the socially and economically disadvantaged owners have the ability to control the firm. The types of work a firm can perform whether on initial certification or when a new type of work is added must be described in terms of the most specific available NAICS code for that type of work. If the certifier chooses, the certifier may also, in addition to applying the appropriate NAICS code, apply a descriptor from a classification scheme of equivalent detail and specificity.
A correct NAICS code is one that describes, as specifically as possible, the principal goods or services which the firm would provide to DOT recipients. If the certifier Directory does not list types of work for any firm in a manner consistent with this paragraph a 1 , the certifier must update the Directory entry for that firm to meet the requirements of this paragraph a 1 by August 28, The firm bears the burden of providing detailed company information the certifying agency needs to make an appropriate NAICS code designation.
If a firm believes that there is not a NAICS code that fully or clearly describes the type s of work in which it is seeking to be certified as a DBE, the firm may request that the certifying agency, in its certification documentation, supplement the assigned NAICS code s with a clear, specific, and detailed narrative description of the type of work in which the firm is certified.
A certifier is not precluded from changing a certification classification or description if there is a factual basis in the record. However, certifiers must not make after-the-fact statements about the scope of a certification, not supported by evidence in the record of the certification action. A business operating under a franchise or license agreement may be certified if it meets the standards in this subpart and the franchiser or licenser is not affiliated with the franchisee or licensee.
In determining whether affiliation exists, the certifier should generally not consider the restraints relating to standardized quality, advertising, accounting format, and other provisions imposed on the franchisee or licensee by the franchise agreement or license, provided that the franchisee or licensee has the right to profit from its efforts and bears the risk of loss commensurate with ownership.
Alternatively, even though a franchisee or licensee may not be controlled by virtue of such provisions in the franchise agreement or license, affiliation could arise through other means, such as common management or excessive restrictions on the sale or transfer of the franchise interest or license. In order for a partnership to be controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, any nondisadvantaged partners must not have the power, without the specific written concurrence of the socially and economically disadvantaged partner s , to contractually bind the partnership or subject the partnership to contract or tort liability.
The socially and economically disadvantaged individuals controlling a firm may use an employee leasing company. The use of such a company does not preclude the socially and economically disadvantaged individuals from controlling their firm if they continue to maintain an employer-employee relationship with the leased employees. This includes being responsible for hiring, firing, training, assigning, and otherwise controlling the on-the-job activities of the employees, as well as ultimate responsibility for wage and tax obligations related to the employees.
Consideration of whether a firm performs a commercially useful function or is a regular dealer pertains solely to counting toward DBE goals the participation of firms that have already been certified as DBEs. Except as provided in paragraph of this section, the certifier must not consider commercially useful function issues in any way in making decisions about whether to certify a firm as a DBE.
The certifier may consider, in making certification decisions, whether a firm has exhibited a pattern of conduct indicating its involvement in attempts to evade or subvert the intent or requirements of the DBE program. The certifier must evaluate the eligibility of a firm on the basis of present circumstances. The certifier must not refuse to certify a firm based solely on historical information indicating a lack of ownership or control of the firm by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals at some time in the past, if the firm currently meets the ownership and control standards of this part.
The certifier must not refuse to certify a firm solely on the basis that it is a newly formed firm, has not completed projects or contracts at the time of its application, has not yet realized profits from its activities, or has not demonstrated a potential for success. If the firm meets disadvantaged, size, ownership, and control requirements of this Part, the firm is eligible for certification.
DBE firms and firms seeking DBE certification shall cooperate fully with the certifier requests and DOT requests for information relevant to the certification process. Failure or refusal to provide such information is a ground for a denial or removal of certification. Only firms organized for profit may be eligible DBEs. Not-for-profit organizations, even though controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, are not eligible to be certified as DBEs.
An eligible DBE firm must be owned by individuals who are socially and economically disadvantaged. Except as provided in this paragraph, a firm that is not owned by such individuals, but instead is owned by another firm—even a DBE firm—cannot be an eligible DBE.
If socially and economically disadvantaged individuals own and control a firm through a parent or holding company, established for tax, capitalization or other purposes consistent with industry practice, and the parent or holding company in turn owns and controls an operating subsidiary, the certifier may certify the subsidiary if it otherwise meets all requirements of this subpart. In this situation, the individual owners and controllers of the parent or holding company are deemed to control the subsidiary through the parent or holding company.
The certifier may certify such a subsidiary only if there is cumulatively 51 percent ownership of the subsidiary by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. The following examples illustrate how this cumulative ownership provision works:. Socially and economically disadvantaged individuals own percent of a holding company, which has a whollyowned subsidiary. The subsidiary may be certified, if it meets all other requirements.
Recognition of a business as a separate entity for tax or corporate purposes is not necessarily sufficient to demonstrate that a firm is an independent business, owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. The certifier must not require a DBE firm to be prequalified supplier or contractor as a condition for certification.
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