Participation by Disadvantaged Business Enterprises in Department of Transportation Programs

This final rule revises the Department of Transportation's regulations for its disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE) program. The DBE program is intended to remedy past and current discrimination against disadvantaged business enterprises, ensure a ``level playing field'' and foster equal opportunity in DOT-assisted contracts, improve the flexibility and efficiency of the DBE program, and reduce burdens on small businesses. This final rule replaces the former DBE regulation, which now contains only the rules for the separate DBE program for airport concessions, with a new regulation. The new regulation reflects President Clinton's policy to mend, not end, affirmative action programs. It modifies the Department's DBE program in light of developments in case law requiring ``narrow tailoring'' of such programs and last year's Congressional debate concerning the continuation of the DBE program. It responds to comments on the Department's December 1992 notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) and its May 1997 supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNPRM).