ACRA has called on the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to continue ensuring that small, disadvantaged CRM firms and other businesses can compete for and win contracts through consistent and clear rules.
The comments come in response to DOT’s interim final rule (IFR) that ended the use of race- and sex-based presumptions of disadvantage for establishing eligibility under the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) and Airport Concessions DBE (ACDBE) Programs as of October 3, 2025. The IFR requires all current DBE/ACDBE firms to undergo reevaluation to prove their eligibility under the new standards. Each state or territorial Unified Certification Program (UCP) must identify all currently certified DBE/ACDBEs, provide them with the opportunity to submit documentation demonstrating its eligibility under the new standards, and issue a written decision to each firm indicating that it has either been recertified or is decertified.
In its comment letter, ACRA raised concerns about the IFR’s treatment of existing contracts and advertised projects. DOT’s guidance on the IFR says that any contracts with DBE goals that were advertised before October 3, 2025, must be re-advertised and that projects that were not awarded before October 3 may have to re-advertise them (contracts with a DBE goal that were executed prior to October 3 are not required to be modified). ACRA urged DOT to maintain the original rules and contracting goals for any projects that have been advertised or for which bids have been opened, arguing that “requirements to re-advertise contracts that already have been advertised, including those where bids already have been opened, will only serve to delay much-needed transportation projects and cause confusion and uncertainty for state transportation agencies and contractors alike.”
ACRA also expressed concerns about the re-evaluation process to recertify DBEs, including the fact that the IFR does not provide a deadline for UCPs to finish the recertification process and is vague about how firms can show they satisfy the IFR’s new social and economic disadvantage (SED) requirement that doesn’t account for race or gender. Pointing out that small companies have limited staff capacity, ACRA’s comment states that “[i]nvesting time and effort in re-certifying for DBE status, without fully understanding the criteria for re-certification or even how long the process will take – presents smaller companies with substantial business risk and uncertainty.” ACRA’s comments call on the DOT to establish a deadline for UCP reevaluation and provide additional guidance on the criteria for certification that UCPs should follow.
Please join ACRA’s Hot Topics session on the current federal contracting landscape on Wednesday, November 12, which will cover these changes and other procurement issues. All employees of ACRA member firms are welcome to join. The ACRA Hot Topics series is only open to ACRA members at this time. Simply sign up here to receive a link to join the discussion.