As of June 30, 2022, Caltrans year to date commitment at award was 21.25%, short of the current overall Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) goal of 22.2%. 49 CFR Part 26 Subpart C §26.51(f)(2) states, “If you determine that you will fall short of your overall goal, then you must make appropriate modifications in your use of race-neutral and/or race-conscious measures to allow you to meet the overall goal.” The Caltrans Office of Civil Rights (OCR) performed analysis to consider the following data: the average overall DBE contact goal, the total number of contracts with a DBE goal, the number of Good Faith Effort evaluations, and the number of certified DBEs. This data evaluation led to a proposal to modify the factor based on the Caltrans district.
As of June 1, 2022, OCR started to increase the recommended DBE contract goals to optimize DBE subcontracting opportunities. These adjustments increased the DBE contract goals between 0.6% and 1.5%. Additionally, contracts with higher dollar values will also be closely evaluated to optimize subcontracting opportunities. Full details may be viewed in the 2022 DBE Goal Mid-Year Adjustment (pdf) below.
If there any questions, please contact Larry Wooster by e-mail at lwooster@dot.ca.gov.