Upcoming opportunities for small businesses in the KCMO area. Along with our partners at MODOT, we are hosting some upcoming certification workshops - https://www.modot.org/dbe-certification-workshops - to help inform local contractors about the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program and help them to navigate the certification process.
Basics of being qualified to become a DBE: your business must be small, and the owner(s) must be disadvantaged.
· Small Business
- To perform DBE work on FHWA or FTA assisted contracts, your business’s annual gross receipts, averaged over the past 3 fiscal years must be below $32.82 million.
- Your business must be set up to perform a “Commercially Useful Function” or “CUF” – work that is typical on federal DOT assisted contracts – and must be below the Small Business Association size standards for the type of work you are seeking certification to perform.
· Disadvantaged Owner: The person or persons owning at least 51% of the business must be shown to be both socially and economically disadvantaged:
- Social Disadvantage comes from a written narrative showing barriers the owner has faced in American society in regard to things like education, employment, or business that put them at a disadvantage relative to other, similarly situated individuals. There is not a standard form for this, it is just a document the Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Owner (SEDO) puts together. I can send our guidance document which can be helpful in putting this together upon request, and the workshop will discuss each of these points further.
- Why get certified?
- Once Qualified, your business will count towards participation goals on applicable federally assisted contracts with the city of Kansas City. When KC gets USDOT funding for an upcoming contract, DBE goals are applied to the project. We do this to ensure a portion of those contract dollars go to businesses that may otherwise be denied opportunities.
- The DBE is a federal program – it is a certification that other jurisdictions throughout the nation recognize and utilize on their applicable federally assisted contracts as well. The interstate certification process lets your certification travel with you.
