4th Quarter, 2024: Why consider DBE Compliance as a Strategic Initiative, not just Another Regulation
10/01/2024 | Vincent PowellAt BTG, over the past 15 years, we have seen the challenges and risks associated with compliance requirements, particularly on large-scale projects.
What we have learned over this time is when agencies and prime contractors treat compliance programs more programmatically, they tend to avoid political issues, successfully meet new milestones and are seen by all stakeholders as a success.
As such, we believe future projects will be just as successful if they address their federal small business compliance requirements, not just as compliance regulations to meet but as an important program to manage from procurement development through to project close out. We call it “Small Business Program Management (SBPM) Life Cycle”
Just as all major complex projects have Safety and Quality programs that span across entire projects so should they have a SBPM approach that manages these compliance efforts to a successful ending. These programs, if structured properly, ease the burden on agencies responsible for the management and reporting of specified goals on federally funded projects. With the size of projects increasing along with the transition to more P3 and design-build procurements, the number of projects in need for such a program has increased dramatically.
We believe a SBPM life cycle should consist of 5 stages which include:
1. RFQ – Early stage focus on inclusion is critical when developing the RFQ
2. RFP – Incorporating risk management language and metrics for industries response
3. Pre-construction – designing in the program key management hierarchy just as it’s done for Quality and Safety Management
4. Construction – if the other stages are done properly, this stage becomes easy
5. Project Closeout – this is a critical, but most overlooked, stage for inclusion initiatives.
It is a team effort working within the sponsoring agency between civil rights and the program engineers during the RFQ and RFP stages aiding in confirming that goals are adequate for the size and type of the project. In addition, identifying certified firms for the various types of scope to perform are critical steps for reducing risks.
Once primes have been identified, it is important that a partnership approach is formed. This partnership approach does not relinquish contractors from their responsibilities, it assures all parties are successful. This approach has reduced the political risks on many projects.
The new rule changes on the DBE program has identified, that practitioners can set up DBE Performance Plans (DBEPP). This approach was used by BTG in 2008 on Virginia’s 495 Express Lanes project. It quickly became a standard approach on various types of Design-Build (or innovative) procurements.
This approach requires close collaboration and boots on the ground by all stakeholders. Tools created by BTG include Scope of Work Opportunity Sessions, on-line assessments and field interviews have proven successful on several large scale projects.
After various awards are provided to DBE firms, compliance monitoring begins. Someone should be assigned to monitor the work performed, assuring that the firms meet the federal requirements for counting credit towards the project goal and that the prime is reporting accurately.
As the project transitions through to project closeout, work still remains with final data collection, subcontract closeout reporting and auditing of documents for final reporting are performed.
We have seen States and other jurisdictional agencies become more aggressive with setting larger goals on Innovative procurements because it helps them meet their jurisdictional requirements.
We have been involved in several ground breaking successes which include over $2 Billion contract awards to small and disadvantaged businesses. As these trends continue it will be important to take a program approach to minimize project risks and maximize engagement.