A federal judge’s injunction prohibiting the U.S. DOT from using gender- or race-based assumptions in its Disadvantaged Business Program for certain contracts could effectively apply in at least 23 states, and potentially nationwide, attorneys said.
U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove clarified Oct. 31 that his previous ruling in a lawsuit filed by two Indiana-based highway contractors applied to “all states in which the Plaintiffs operate or bid on DOT contracts impacted by DBE goals,” not just Indiana and Kentucky.
Because DOT can’t know where the two contractors who filed the original lawsuit will bid in the future, attorney Chris Slottee said the order could now effectively weaken the program nationally.
“This could cause the DOT to hesitate to use the DBE program going forward, given that the DOT will not know what projects the plaintiffs are, or are not, going to bid upon,” said Slottee, an attorney at Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt in Anchorage, Alaska, via email.
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