Georgia NAACP requests investigation into DBE program
Published on 08/06/2012
The Georgia State Conference NAACP is pressing the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) for "willful" discrimination against African-American owned companies.
Edward DuBose, the president of the state NAACP, cited a recent report on the effectiveness of GDOT's disadvantaged business enterprise program as evidence. The disparity study reported that between June 2009 and June 2011 a little over 2 percent of the agency's contact dollars went to African-American owned firms, even though 14 percent of African-American owned businesses meet the project requirements.
"We want to see goals set that would allow the utilization of African-American contractors according to how they are represented in the numbers that are qualified," DuBose says.
The Georgia DOT says it has yet to be formally contacted by the state's NAACP.
"The Department has received no official communication from the NAACP regarding the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program," says a GDOT statement. "Nor did the NAACP submit any comments or attend any of the five public comment meetings since April on our Disparity Study ? a voluntary effort conducted by the Department to determine how it can improve participation in its DBE program by all minorities and eligible groups. Therefore, it is impossible for us to respond to any purported particular criticism. The allegation that the GA DOT willfully discriminates against any segment of the population is irresponsible."
