Spokesman Recorder: MnDOT Falls Short of Diversity Goals
To receive federal money, each state’s transportation departments must set a statewide three-year goal for small businesses owned by people of color and women on federal-funded transportation projects. The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) announced last month that it fell three percent short of its 10 percent Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) participation goal for the 2015 federal fiscal year with the goal rising to nearly 12% for 2016. MnDOT Commissioner Zelle has emphasized the importance of “investing resources to find and increase the number” of certified DBEs. This is of particular importance in the black community as black American firms received only $626,813 of the $76 million of DBE contracts in 2014.