Section 26.11 What Records do Recipients Keep and Report?

The Department asked, in the SNPRM, whether it would be advisable to have one standard reporting form for information about the DBE program. Currently, each operating administration (OA) has its own reporting form and requirements. Virtually all the commenters that addressed this issue favored a single, DOT-wide reporting form. Commenters also had a wide variety of suggestions for what data should be reported, formats, and retention periods.

The Department is adopting the suggestion of having a single reporting form, which we believe will reduce administrative burdens for recipients, particularly those who receive funds from more than one OA. Because we do not want to delay the issuance of this rule while a form is being developed, we are reserving the date on which this single form requirement will go into effect. We will take comments on the specifics of reporting into account and consult with interested parties as we devise the form, which will be published subsequently in Appendix B to this rule. The Appendix will also address the issues of reporting frequency and record retention periods. Meanwhile, recipients will continue to report as directed by the concerned OA(s), using existing reporting forms.

The rule is also adding a requirement that recipients develop and maintain a ``bidders'' list. The bidders list is intended to be a count of all firms that are participating, or attempting to participate, on DOT-assisted contracts. The list must include all firms that bid on prime contracts or bid or quote subcontracts on DOT-assisted projects, including both DBEs and non-DBEs. Bidders lists appear to be a promising method for accurately determining the availability of DBE and non-DBE firms and the Department believes that developing bidders data will be useful for recipients. Creating and maintaining a bidders list will give recipients another valuable way to measure the relative availability of ready, willing and able DBEs when setting their overall goals. (See Sec. 26.45). We realize that identifying subcontractors, particularly non-DBEs and all subcontractors that were unsuccessful in their attempts to obtain contracts, may well be a difficult task for many recipients. Mindful of that potential burden, the rule will not impose any procedural requirements for how the data is collected. Recipients are free to choose whether or not they wish to gather this data through their existing bidding and reporting processes. Recipients are encouraged to make use of all of the data already available to them and all methods of reporting and communication with their contracting community that they already have in place. In addition, the Department suggests that recipients consider using a widely publicized public notice or a widely disseminated survey to encourage all firms that have bid or quoted contracts to make themselves known to recipients.

Once recipients have created the list of bidders, they will have to supplement that information with the age of each firm (since establishment) and the annual gross receipts of the firm (or an average of its annual gross receipts). Recipients can gather this additional information by sending a questionnaire to the firms on the list, or by any other means that the recipient believes will yield reliable information. The recipient's plan for how to create and maintain the list and gather the required information must be included in its DBE program.