TITLE
Recommendation to adopt the Fiscal Year 2006 Overall Annual Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Goal in accordance with Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 26, for Capital Improvement Projects funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation - Federal Highway Administration. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
On January 2, 2001, the City Council adopted the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise
DBE) Program for its U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) -funded capital
improvement projects, including goals for its DBE participation on DOT-assisted contracts.
DBE regulations require that the City of Long Beach establish annual DBE goals using a
prescribed methodology to ensure full compliance with relevant regulatory requirements of
the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). On September 14,2005, the City submitted
to the Local Assistance Engineer at Caltrans (FHWA administrator) the following proposed
Fiscal Year 2006 FHWA DBE goal:
o A 9 percent goal for contracts funded by the DOT for streets
This FHWA goal was developed by comparing the number of available ready, willing and
able DBEs to the number of all comparable firms (DBE and non-DBEs). This data was
drawn from the California Unified Certification Program Database of Certified Firms and the
2003 U.S. Census Bureau. The resulting figure was then modified to account for previous
goal attainment performance. Other street projects within Los Angeles and Orange
Counties were also considered for comparison. Caltrans has affirmed that the City's
proposed goal and methodology meet the basic requirements of Title 49 CFR, Part 26.
On November 26,2005, Caltrans approved the proposed FY 06 FHWA DBE Goal, which
was advertised extensively via outreach letters to business and community organizations
and through local media, No comments were received from the public following a 45-day
comment period for public participation.
It should be noted that, due to a recent gth Circuit Court of Appeals case regarding DBE
goal...
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