The DBE and ACDBE Programs

The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) deals with the U.S.’s transportation system, whether this is by air, water, or land. was created to assist small and disadvantaged businesses(SDBs) with its Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program or the Airport Concession Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (ACDBE).

Three major DOT administrations work with the DBE and they are the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). Your company must be registered with them as a DBE and within the SAM to qualify.

10% of all DOT funds are set aside to be used for DBEs. These certifications are handled by each state. When a company is certified by, they are placed into that state’s directory where it can be looked up and verified.

All contractors that have a DOT-assisted contract must have a DBE program setup if they are awarded over $250,000 by the FTA. This is found within 49 CFA § 26.21.

To minimize companies needing to apply to multiple states, states utilize a Uniform Certification Program (UCP) that allows DBE applicants to apply once and their DBE certification will then be respected by each state.

Eligibility

The eligibility for these is mainly based on the ownership percentage. A company’s majority owner must be socially and economically disadvantaged to qualify.

Both the DBE and the ACDHE have size standards on what those companies qualify as small. The main difference between the DBE and ACDBE certifications are the size standards.

The size standards for the DBE are:

• They take into consideration the SBA’s size standards and time frame for averaging the gross receipts.
• It also has a limit of $30.40 million, with its gross receipts taken over three years.

The size standards for the ACDBE are limits capped at the following:

• 56.42 million over three years on average.
• $1 billion in assets for banks or other financial institutions.
• $75.23 million on average over three years.
• 1,500 employees for pay phones.
• 350 employees for automobile dealers.

When your company has been registered and listed within their home state’s directory, you will then be able to mark that you are a DOT DBE within the SAM registration.