On September 25, 2026, the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) issued a rule finalizing revisions to its Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program. The program has been operating for the past year under the terms of an "interim final rule" put in place October 2025.
Tag: DBE Program
The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) is the first state to ask the US DOT to waive its requirements for the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program since a court ruled the requirements are likely unconstitutional. The DBE program requires 10 percent of federal highway construction funds to be paid out to small businesses owned by "socially and economically disadvantaged" individuals - generally defined as women, African Americans, native Americans and Hispanic Americans, and other defined disadvantaged groups. The program is purported to help remove barriers so qualifying businesses can participate in federally assisted contracts. A U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky last year found that the race- and gender-based presumptions used by the DOT likely violate constitutional protections. US DOT agreed with that finding.
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