PUBLIC NOTICES
U.S. Department of Transportation Financial Assistance
Short-Term Lending Program
To help small businesses gain access to the financing they need to participate in transportation-related contracts, U.S. DOT Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) offers and manages the Short-Term Lending Program (STLP). STLP provides certified DBE's and other certified small businesses short term working capital financing at competitive interest rates for DOT or DOT funded contracts and subcontracts. This program is especially helpful for businesses with traditionally less working capital than larger contractors.
Businesses that are eligible to receive a loan through STLP are:
- Firms that have received DBE certification from a state or local transportation agency;
- Firms that have been certified by the SBA as an 8(a), Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB), Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone), or Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB).
Start-up businesses are not eligible to receive a STLP line of credit and should contact the SBA for information about other possible forms of financial assistance.
Type of Work Covered by STLP
The STLP provides revolving lines of credit to finance accounts receivable arising from “transportation-related contracts.” “Transportation-related contracts” meet the following criteria:
- Work involves the maintenance, rehabilitation, restructuring, improvement, or revitalization of any of the nation's modes of transportation; and
- Work is for any public or commercial provider of transportation of any federal, state, or local transportation agency.
The primary collateral for the lines of credit consist of accounts receivable arising from the contracts or subcontracts being financed. These lines of credit can be extended to both prime and subcontractors with the maximum line of credit up to $750,000.
Please visit U.S. DOT's website for additional information and application instructions: here.
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Disadvantaged Business Enterprise American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Bonding Assistance Reimbursable Fee Program (DBE ARRA BAP)
August 31, 2009 - Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood Announces Recovery Assistance for Small and Disadvantaged Businesses with the establishment of a new bonding assistance program.
This new program, which will be administered by the Department of Transportation’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU), allows small and disadvantaged businesses to apply to be reimbursed for bonding premiums and fees incurred when competing for, or performing on, transportation infrastructure projects funded by ARRA. The program will be especially helpful for businesses with traditionally less working capital than larger contractors.
Under the DBE ARRA BAP program, DBEs performing on a transportation and infrastructure projects receiving ARRA funding assistance from any DOT mode of transportation will receive financial bonding assistance in the form of bonding fee cost reimbursement. This provision is applicable to a subcontract or prime contract at any tier in the construction project. Under this program DOT will directly reimburse DBEs the premiums paid to the surety company for performance, payment or bid/proposal bonds. The range of the premium fee is between 1-3% of the total bond amount. In the event the DBE also obtains a bond guarantee from Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Surety Bond Guarantee Program (SBGP), the DOT will also reimburse the DBE for the small business concern (principal) fee of .729% of the contract price.
Please see the accompanying link for application information and guidance on the USDOT website (here).
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**** Caltrans DBE Program Race-Conscious/Race-Neutral ****
Public Announcement
March 4, 2009 - The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) received conditional approval from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to implement its Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2009 Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Goal and Methodology effective immediately. The 2009 Goal and Methodology provides for a 6.75 percent race-conscious goal and a 6.75 percent race-neutral goal for an overall 13.5 percent program goal. With the recent enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 and the increase in transportation contracting opportunities it will bring, the urgency for Caltrans to implement contract goals has heightened.
As of March 30, 2009, Caltrans Division of Engineering Services and Division of Procurement and Contracts will begin including an appropriate DBE race-conscious goal to include African American, Asian-Pacific American, Women, and Native American businesses in the advertised contracts for federally funded projects. These four groups are referred to as Underutilized Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (UDBEs). The race-conscious goal established for each contract will be based on the subcontracting opportunities it provides and the availability of UDBEs. Besides the DBE certification program, there is no separate UDBE certification. Current DBE participants in the aforementioned four groups are recognized as UDBEs based on ownership data submitted at the time of application and are shown in the CUCP DBE Directory.
At this time, Hispanic American and Subcontinent Asian American businesses are not included in the race-conscious portion of the program. Caltrans re-emphasizes, however, that use of these businesses continues to be important and will count toward meeting the race-neutral portion of the goal. Caltrans has also indicated that its failure to implement the overall goal and contract goals could result in FHWA imposing sanctions authorized by 23 Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) section 1.36. Those sanctions may include withholding federal funds, withholding approval of projects, or other action FHWA deems appropriate under the circumstances.
Implementation of the race-conscious component of the DBE program also applies to Local Agencies as subrecipients. Caltrans advises regional and local partners to begin implementing DBE race-conscious goals on federally funded projects within 90 days by no later than June 2, 2009.
Caltrans will continue its commitment to the application of race-neutral measures as before. They include, but are not limited to, providing technical assistance, one-on-one counseling, training, and direct referral of DBEs to prime contractors through the California Construction Contracting Program and the memorandum of understanding with the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. More information can be found on the Web site at http://www.buildcalifornia.org.
Questions about the change in the DBE program may be directed to Robert Padilla, Disparity Study Project Manager, at (916) 324-0552 or by e-mail at robert_padilla@dot.ca.gov.
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****Statewide Availability and Disparity Study Final Report is available here****
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) announced an overall proposed DBE participation goal of 13.5 percent for federal Fiscal Year 2009 for Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) funded projects and 4 percent for Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funded projects.
The goal and methodology is available on the Caltrans Civil Rights website at www.dot.ca.gov and at the Caltrans Office of Business & Economic Opportunity, located at 1823 14th Street (MS-79), Sacramento, California.
Caltrans commissioned a Disparity Study and the information in the study was used to establish the overall goal. The study is available here.
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**** Fraudulent US DOT Letter Requesting DBEs’ Bank Information ****
– DO NOT RESPOND -
The California Unified Certification Program (CUCP) issues the following warning to all certified Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) firms:
DO NOT RESPOND to a letter purported to be from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) requesting Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) firms provide financial information on a release form, in order “to be eligible for procurement with the US Department of Transportation.”
On September 15, 2008, the U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a FRAUD ALERT about fraudulent DOT procurement letters being faxed to unsuspecting victims in an on-going indentiy theft scheme. DO NOT RESPOND to this or similar requests.
OIG advises that if you have questions about a DOT request regarding procurement, please contact the Office of the Senior Procurement Executive at (202) 366–4263 or the office of procurement for any of the individual DOT operating administrations. If you would like to report a fraudulent request for information to DOT, please contact the OIG Hotline here, or by calling (800) 424–9071. The OIG may also provide your information to the U.S. Secret Service office in DC.
If you have already responded to such a request, please notify your financial institution immediately and contact the OIG Hotline. OIG also encourages you to contact your local law enforcement agency and your regional U.S. Secret Service office. It warns that "because these types of identity theft scams are often conducted from outside the United States of America, it may be extremely difficult to identify and prosecute the perpetrators. If you think you have been a victim of identity theft, you may want to review the Secret Service’s tips for victims of fraud located [here]."
The following is a sample text of a FRAUDULENT letter printed on DOT letterhead:
“Dear Sirs,
Our records show that you are currently registered as a prospective contractor for procurements issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation. However, after reviewing your record we have noticed that you have not submitted your financial information release form.
Your financial institution’s privacy policy may not allow it to release your financial information even to government institutions without your consent; therefore we must have such form on file before we can move on with any procurement decisions.
In August 2007, the procurement plan for the first semester of 2008 will be finalized. To be eligible for procurement with the U.S. Department of Transportation, you must submit the abovementioned form to us by fax at 202-330-5749….
Sincerely,
George Mason,
Senior Procurement Officer”
For a list of other fraudulent letters printed on DOT letterhead, please visit USDOT here: http://www.dot.gov/ost/m60/fraudulent_letters.htm
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Past Announcements
To view the California Department of Transportation frequently asked questions (FAQs) about its DBE Program, please click here.