In January 2022, Wisconsin Department of Transportation awarded $138,178 to UWM’s Institute for Physical Infrastructure and Transportation (IPIT) for program of reviewing Wis-DOT’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise; this 18-month program aims to increase disadvantaged business enterprises (DBE) participation in and success rate of winning highway project contracts.The PI on this project is Al Ghorbanpoor, emeritus professor, civil & environmental engineering and founding director of IPIT; co-PIs are Steve Trick, research scientist with IPIT, and Qin.
WisDOT carries out the federal government’s DBE program, which provides minorities, women and other eligible small businesses with opportunities to participate in highway, transit and airport contracts that are federally or state funded. The intent of the program is to improve the competitiveness of DBEs and increase their participation in Wisconsin’s highway projects.
UWM researchers will evaluate WisDOT’s DBE. Among the tasks: identify barriers to firms’ participation and methods to remove them; make recommendations to maximize DBE participation and its success rate. The team will also recommend a DBE pilot training program to help set directions for developing and implementing a unique and robust DBE pilot training program in Wisconsin.
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