Partnering with Women and Minority Owned Construction Companies

In today’s construction industry, there is a growing emphasis on encouraging the participation of women and minority-owned businesses (MBEs) as contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers. Lots of initiatives are available at different governmental levels to promote diversity and inclusion. These initiatives are a positive approach to take the construction industry at the hike. Also, the governmental support in these initiatives is encouraging more women to join the industry with better methodological approaches to bring advancement in the industry. The minority-owned businesses are also getting a positive encouragement to take the opportunity and participate in the ever-growing construction industry.

USDOT DBE Initiative

The Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program, managed by the US Department of Transportation (USDOT), is trying to increase opportunities for MBEs.

Federal agencies receiving funding must establish contract-specific DBE subcontracting targets and yearly participation goals. DBE accreditation criteria involve 51% ownership by economically and socially disadvantaged individuals, including Women Business Enterprises (WBE) and Minority Business Enterprises (MBE). To be eligible for this federal funding, one must be a member of a minority group including African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic-American, and women-led businesses.

According to the survey, the 13.6% transportation contract was received by the MWOBs in 2017 which was 9.5% higher than that of 2018. Since then, the program has been successfully running till now in 2023 and has created more job opportunities in the sector for the minority.

Some critics also came in a way that the program is being too bureaucratic and creating discrimination however, the program is still successfully sustaining as a major part of the USDOT’s effort that is promoting diversity in the concerned sector.

Federal DBE Initiatives

Federal agencies may require MBE participation for contracts exceeding specific thresholds. Prime contractors should outline subcontracting strategies to include MBEs and be more inclusive in large construction projects.

The federal DBE initiatives play a major role in increasing the coordination of MBEs in the construction industry. This is not only beneficial for the existing construction firms but also encourages more young entrepreneurs to take them on board and bring positive change to the industry.

Maryland MBE Program

Maryland mandates state agencies to strive for 29% MBE participation in procurement contracts.

The Office of Minority Affairs oversees the program, promoting inclusivity in state projects. They also work quite well in making sure that minority-based businesses get fair and clear opportunities for contracts.

The OMA further took the state’s MBE certificate program to help and scratch out the potential and qualified businesses from the minority-based business community.

North Carolina HUB Office

The Office for Historically Underutilized Businesses in North Carolina sets goals for state-funded projects. Verifiable goals of 10% are established for construction projects, promoting MBE participation.

This initiative is of its kind as it provides full assistance to the MBEs in bidding and contract management so that they can equally compete with their already settled competitors.

The North Carolina Hub office also aims to be a major contributor to promoting economic development and bringing more opportunities to the residents of NC.

Massachusetts and New Jersey Initiatives

Massachusetts and New Jersey have combined M/WBE participation targets for construction and design contracts. Massachusetts encourages local governments to set objectives for building projects. however, New Jersey took a different approach. Instead of targeting overall MBEs, it focuses on small business set-asides and hopes to provide 25% of contracting funds to small firms.

Besides the collaboration of New Jersey and Massachusetts and the progress in the construction sector, they need to work more and take steps to encourage fair opportunities for everyone bidding for the mega construction projects.