Dive Brief:

• Associated General Contractors has filed comments with the U.S. Department of Transportation urging that the agency hold off on a proposed change that would require more documentation from bidders about how they would hire disadvantaged businesses as subcontractors to share in the project.
• The proposal, AGC said, would raise compliance costs about $25,000 per project bid, based on responses to a survey by AGC and the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA).
• AGC also reminded the agency that an inspector general's report last April said that the overall administration of the program ought to be reviewed to see if it is achieving what it is intended to do.

Dive Insight:

The cost issue matters a lot to member contracting firms, but AGC is spinning its comments as urging DOT to take a look at the point of the program. Politically, that may sell better — or it at least adds an angle that could widen support for putting the change on hold. The proposal that DOT made in 2012 would require more documentation about what Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) subs would be included or about good-faith efforts if the subs had not been locked in.