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This Manual Was Developed From A Collaborative Effort Between The Contract Administration Group

Effective administration of the DBE program requires full understanding of the program, including its goals and objectives. It is not the intent of this manual to provide detailed information on the DBE Program. An excellent reference source, in addition to the cited Federal regulations, is the "DBE Program Administration Manual. "This manual was developed from a collaborative effort between the Contract Administration Group (HIPA-30) and the Office of Civil Rights and is used as a participant's manual in a training course with the same title.

It is desirable from a contract administration perspective to highlight the following points:

The DBE participation requirements in Federal-aid highway contracts are contract provisions like any other contract provisions (i.e., predetermined minimum wage, Buy America provisions, and statements and payrolls, etc.), and should be administered as such.

DBE administrative issues that will require review and attention may arise during a project. These issues will require the reviewer to have an adequate background of the DBE Program and may include such items as:

DBE Specifications and contract provisions should include the following:

DBE Program Policy
Definitions
DBE Contract Goal
Eligibility Criteria
Good Faith Effort Provisions
DBE Obligations
Sanctions on Failure to Comply with DBE Requirements
Determination Procedures on Counting DBE participation towards the DBE Goal
Award Documentation and Procedures
Post Award Compliance Provisions
Records and Reporting Requirements
The two most prevalent forms of fraud and abuse that occur in the DBE Program are:

an ineligible firm is certified
a legitimate DBE firm fails to perform a commercially useful function.
Certification decisions address the nature of a firms ownership and structure, and serve as the first safeguard for preventing fraud and abuse. While commercially useful function is primarily concerned with the role a certified firm has played in a particular transaction, and serves as the second line of defense against fraud and abuse. Commercially useful function determinations occur during the administration of the project. Items to review in these determinations include:

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	Did You Know?
	If You Have A Contract Issue You Can Call For 'Arbitration' Some written contracts call for "arbitration" if you have a problem. This means that you have the right to take a dispute to an impartial person-or group of persons-with no connection to the courts.