NOTICES

2007 Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Participation in Federal Transit Administration Funded Contracts

[36 Pa.B. 4082]
[Saturday, July 29, 2006]

   Under the authority contained in the Transportation Act for the 21st Century, act of June 9, 1998, Pub. L. No. 105-178, 112 Stat. 113 (23 U.S.C.A. § 101), and in keeping with the requirements of 49 CFR Part 26 (relating to participation by disadvantaged business enterprises in Department of Transportation financial assistance programs), the Department of Transportation (Department) provides public notice of its 2007 goal for participation by Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBEs) in its Federally assisted contracts.

   Pending receipt of public comments, the Department's 2007 goal is a work in progress.

   As a recipient of Federal funds from the United States Department of Transportation (US DOT) through its agencies, including the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the Department must comply with the goal setting provisions of the US DOT DBE regulation, set forth in 49 CFR Part 26, effective March 4, 1999. The Department is mandated to submit a methodology and goal for Federally assisted contracts in accordance with the provisions of 49 CFR 26.45 and 26.51 (relating to how do recipients set overall goals; and what means do recipients use to meet overall goals). The methodology and goal must be submitted to the FTA by August 1, 2006. An important part of this process is providing notice to the public concerning the methodology used to arrive at the final goal and affording the public the opportunity to provide comments on the proposed goal.

   To comply with the goal setting provisions of the DBE regulation, the Department employed the two-step process outlined in 49 CFR 26.45. Under step 1; the Department first identified transit authorities receiving FTA funds from the Department during Fiscal Year (FY) 2007. These transit authorities were polled to see if they anticipated having contracting opportunity during FFY 2007. For each entity that anticipated having contracting opportunity during FFY 2007, the Department identified the type of work being performed under the contract and counted ready, willing and able DBEs in those work types and divided it by the universe of ready, willing and able contractors in those work types. These ratios were weighted according to the projected FY 2007 contracting opportunity to create the step1 goal.

   Under Step 2 of the goal setting process, the Department examined all relevant evidence in its jurisdiction to determine what adjustments, up or down, were needed to arrive at the overall goal. Step 2 necessarily took into account other conditions or variables impacting DBEs in this Commonwealth. As part of the adjustment phase, the Department gave due consideration to the geographical location of the predominantly rural Department FTA subrecipients. The Department also considered market potential based upon past DBE participation in similar projects and other public data.

   Consistent with the public participation requirement for this process, the Department is making the proposed 2007 methodology and goal available for inspection and review for 45 days from the date of this notice.

   The methodology and goal may be reviewed online at http://pasdc.hbg.psu.edu/pasdc/dot/.

   The methodology and goal may also be reviewed at any of the following locations:

Bureau of Equal Opportunity
Commonwealth Keystone Building
400 North Street, 5th Floor
Harrisburg, PA 17101
(717) 787-5891
Jocelyn I. Harper, Director

Engineering District 1-0
255 Elm Street
P. O. Box 398
Oil City, PA 16301-398
(814) 678-7105
William G. Petit, P. E. District Executive

Engineering District 2-0
1924-30 Daisy Street
Clearfield, PA 16830
(814) 765-0400
Kevin R. Kline, P. E., District Executive

Engineering District 3-0
715 Jordan Avenue
Montoursville, PA 17754
(570) 368-8686
Sandra Tosca, P. E., Acting District Executive

Engineering District 4-0
O'Neill Highway
P. O. Box 111
Dunmore, PA 18512
(570) 963-4061
Stephen J. Shimko, P. E., District Executive

Engineering District 5-0
1713 Lehigh Street
Allentown, PA 18103
(610) 798-4100
Amar C. Bhajandas, P. E., District Executive

Engineering District 6-0
7000 Geerdes Blvd.
King of Prussia, PA 19406
(610) 205-6660
Rina Cutler, Acting District Executive

Engineering District 8-0
2140 Herr Street
Harrisburg, PA 17103-1699
(717) 787-6653
Barry G. Hoffman, P. E., District Executive

Engineering District 9-0
North Juniata Street
P. O. Box 69
Hollidaysburg, PA 16648
(814) 696-7250
Thomas A. Prestash, P. E., District Executive

Engineering District 10-0
250 Oakland Avenue
P. O. Box 429
Indiana, PA 15701
(724) 357-2806
Joseph P. Dubovi, III, P. E., Acting District Executive

Engineering District 11-0
45 Thoms Run Road
Bridgeville, PA 15017
(412) 429-5001
H. Daniel Cessna, P. E., District Executive

Engineering District 12-0
N. Gallatine Avenue Ext.
P. O. Box 459
Uniontown, PA 15401-0459
(724) 439-7340
Joseph J. Szczur, P. E., District Executive

   Comments, questions or suggestions regarding this notice should be directed in writing to Jocelyn I. Harper, Director, Bureau of Equal Opportunity, Department of Transportation, P. O. Box 3251, Harrisburg, PA 17105-3251, fax (717) 772-4026.

   Comments should be postmarked no later than September 12, 2006, for consideration.

ALLEN D. BIEHLER, P. E.,   
Secretary

[Pa.B. Doc. No. 06-1469. Filed for public inspection July 28, 2006, 9:00 a.m.]

---

No part of the information on this site may be reproduced for profit or sold for profit.

This material has been drawn directly from the official Pennsylvania Bulletin full text database. Due to the limitations of HTML or differences in display capabilities of different browsers, this version may differ slightly from the official printed version.

---