This article focuses on the uncharted waters of Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program administration by its most principal stewards, the DBE program administrators, for each state department of transportation (DOT). Toward this end, a research subcommittee of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS)1 conducted a national survey of DOT DBE program administrators. The web-based survey was conducted in the fall of 2008 and repeated in the fall of 2009 by The Center for Survey Research at the Pennsylvania State University, Capital College. The survey was expressly designed to gauge the foremost issues and concerns of the DBE program nationally and to stimulate directed research into the daily problems faced by DBEs in general and by DOT DBE program administrators in particular. This article attempts to forge a new understanding of the DBE program by focusing on defining the problems in DBE program administration to enhance efforts to improve the DBE program nationwide.

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