After the government issued the new Disadvantaged Business Enterprise regulations in April 2024, many folks have been waiting to see how the U.S. Department of Transportation’s DBE program office will interpret the new regulations. Though the regulations require the USDOT to publish DBE decisions on its website, it has not done so for many years. As a result, these appeal decisions can only be obtained via Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) requests.
On April 14, 2025, the undersigned author received a response to a FOIA request for those decisions. The FOIA response stated, “Please note- the program office stated there is a temporary halt on the issuance of DBE decisions.” (emphasis in original). The letter provided no explanation, nor any date by which appeal decisions would resume.
Based on the appeal decisions produced in response to the FOIA request, the last DBE appeal decision made by the USDOT was January 13, 2025. If your company has a DBE appeal pending and has not yet received a decision, it is unknown as to when or if a decision will be made.
Despite this halt in appeal decisions, DBEs facing decertification and companies seeking DBE certification must still meet all appeal requirements and deadlines if they wish to pursue or maintain their DBE certification.
For DBEs who have been decertified, this halt is particularly problematic because they lose their DBE status until overturned on appeal.
Please watch for future blogs for updates on this developing situation.
