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The EPA and its Six Good Faith Effort steps

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) encourages the participation of disadvantaged business enterprises (DBEs) on projects it funds by requiring that prime contractors perform a good faith effort to enlist DBEs as subcontractors. This requirement applies not just to jobs being administered by the EPA but jobs overseen by other entities (such as towns, state agencies, etc.) that received EPA dollars, so it is vital for prospective bidders to understand the DBE good faith effort requirements.

Fortunately, the EPA accepts a wide number of disadvantaged business designations as counting towards a good faith effort. This list includes DBEs, Small Business Administration (SBA), Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) and the certifications of any Tribal, State, Local or Independent Private Organization as long as their standards meet or exceed those of the EPA.

For those Tribal, State, Local or Independent Private Organization certifications to count towards the good faith effort, they must meet these bare minimum EPA criteria:

1. An entity must first attempt to be certified by SBA or DOT, or a Tribal, State, or local government, or by an independent private organization, and be unsuccessful in that attempt (proof required).
2. An entity must establish that it is at least 51% owned and/or controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals who are of good character and are citizens of the United States.
3. An individual claiming economic disadvantaged status must have an initial and continued personal net worth of less than $750,000.

To demonstrate a good faith effort on an EPA funded job, the following "Six Good Faith Efforts" as defined by the EPA must be adhered to:

1. Make DBEs aware of subcontracting opportunities through outreach and recruitment activities.
2. Make information on subcontracting opportunities available to DBEs and arrange time frames for contracts and establish delivery schedules, including publishing advertisements for bids in trade and focus publications, like DBEGoodFaith.com, a minimum of 30 calendar days before the contract's bid date.
3. Consider whether firms competing for large contracts could subcontract with DBEs.
4. Encourage contracting with a consortium of DBEs when a contract is too large for one of these firms to handle individually.
5. Use the services and assistance of the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA).
6. If the prime contractor awards subcontracts, require the prime contractor to take the above steps.

While fulfilling the "The Six Good Faith Efforts," a potential Prime Contractor must keep extensive documentation of all steps, including but not limited to, phone, email, and fax logs, records of advertisements, etc. in order to prove their good faith effort.