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DBE Final Rule

Section 26.47 Can Recipients Be Penalized for Failing To Meet Overall Goals?

This is a new section of the regulation, the purpose of which is to clarify the Department's views on the situations in which it is appropriate to impose sanctions on recipients with respect to goals. The provision states explicitly what has long been the Department's policy: no recipient is sanctioned, or found in noncompliance, simply because it fails to meet its overall goal. In fact, through the history of the DBE program, the Department never has sanctioned a recipient for failing to obtain a particular amount of DBE participation.

On the other hand, if a recipient fails to set an overall goal which the concerned operating administration approves, or fails to operate its program in good faith toward the objective of meeting the goal, it is subject to a finding of noncompliance and possible sanctions. For example, if a recipient refuses to establish a goal or, having established one, does little or nothing to work toward attaining it, it would be reasonable for the Department to find the recipient in noncompliance. Like all compliance provisions of the rule, this provision is subject to the ``court order'' exception recently created by statute (see Sec. 26.101(b)).

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