The New York State Department of Transportation will now require bidders to show that, by the time of bid, they had either firm commitments meeting DBE goals or had made sufficient good faith efforts to meet the goals. A bidder will no longer have a period of time after bid day to secure the necessary DBE commitments or to bolster its good faith efforts. (What is necessary to prove good faith effort is defined in detail.)

If goals were not achieved by bid time and if DOT decides that documentation of pre-bid good faith efforts is insufficient, then the bid must be rejected as non-conforming, with a possibility of bid-bond forfeiture. The changes are reflected in a revised § 102-12 of DOT’s Standard Specifications, effective January 1 this year, but also in a new attitude at the Department about strict and literal enforcement of a process that it used to interpret more liberally. 

These changes and others were recently explained by DOT at a meeting of the Associated General Contractors of New York in Saratoga. That presentation also offered some practical suggestions for meeting the “good faith effort” requirement that will now be more rigorously enforced. Three members of Adams Leclair attended that presentation and will offer clients a webinar with more details later this month. Watch your email for further information.

Tony Adams