BECO (Business, Engineering, Construction, and Other) Framework for Providing Effective and Comprehensive Supportive Services to Disadvantaged Business Enterprises in the United States

The Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program, established by the United States Department of Transportation, aims to remove barriers to participation of Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBEs) in highway projects, to promote the use of DBEs in federally assisted contracts, and to assist the development of DBEs. A DBE is a small, for-profit business owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals such as women or minorities. DBEs need various supportive services, depending on many factors, such as business area, size, and strategy. State Departments of Transportation often provide or hire third parties to provide supportive services to DBEs that are relatively expensive and inefficient. These services may also support only some and unintentionally exclude other DBEs. Under many challenges, one ultimate goal is to find a framework that covers all valuable DBE supportive services. This study proposes, tests, and validates a framework for providing effective and comprehensive DBE supportive services in the transportation sector. Based on discussions with DBE liaison officers and service providers, we propose the business, engineering, construction, and other (BECO) framework to provide DBE supportive services. We then use a sequential explanatory design in mixed methods, collecting quantitative and qualitative data to evaluate and validate the BECO framework. We analyze quantitative data using confirmatory factor analysis and qualitative data using pattern coding techniques. The results provide insights and reveal useful DBE supportive services using the BECO framework. The framework is useful for assessing DBE needs, informing DBE liaison officers and service providers, and offering the most useful supportive services to DBEs.