Airports in the U.S. are largely government-owned, which isn’t how this works in much of the world. They rely heavily on federal funding, especially grants that come heavily-laden with conditions. That includes what’s come to be known as DEI but that’s actually explicit racial (and gender) quotas in contracting.
The Department of Transportation’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise programs, including the Airport Concession Disadvantaged Business Enterprise initiative, will continue despite efforts by the Trump administration to end DEI in aviation and throughout the federal government. That’s because they’re written into law and regulation – they can’t simply be reversed by an Executive Order.
The Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program is implemented under 49 CFR Part 26, and meant to ensure that minority-owned and women-owned businesses have equitable opportunities to participate in federally funded transportation projects.
The Airport Concession Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program is mandated by 49 U.S.C. § 47107(e) and governed by 49 CFR Part 23, specifically focusing on airport concessionaires. Established in 1987 and most recently amended in 2012, the ACDBE program aims to ensure that concession contracts at airports are accessible to disadvantaged businesses. That means restaurants, retail shops, and even bank and independent lounges.
- Airports cumulatively receiving grants of $250,000 or more in a federal fiscal year are required to implement.
- Contracts must be analyzed for meeting 3-year targets, gathering data from companies bidding and making sure all contracts contain required legal language supporting these goals.
- Airports must monitor contractor performance with respect to agreed-upon participation levels. They must also require certifications that prime contractors are paying their subcontractors on time.
- Written permission from the airport is required before a contractor can end a DBE subcontractor’s project participation.
- Yearly reports are required which are then reviewed by the FAA Office of Civil Rights. Airports have to keep policies, procedures, and documentation ready for audit.
Businesses seeking to participate in these programs must undergo a certification process, demonstrating that they are minority or women-owned making them eligible to bid on federal contracts, with contracting agencies mandated to meet specific participation goals, typically expressed as a percentage of total project contracts. Airports receiving federal funds are required to allocate a portion of their contracts in a quota system.
In practice, meeting these quotas often involves strategic partnerships between non-minority-owned businesses and minority-owned enterprises.
- Joint Ventures: Two or more businesses combine resources to bid on large projects, ensuring that minority participation criteria are met.
- Subcontracting: A primary contractor may hire a DBE or ACDBE as a subcontractor, allowing the minority-owned business to contribute specific services or components to the project.
Often these partnerships are superficial, with non-minority businesses partnering with minority-owned companies solely to satisfy regulatory requirements. The minority business gets paid for ‘participation’.
The President has ordered the FAA not to engage in diversity hiring, which includes in the hiring of air traffic controllers. The agency has, in the past, limited entry into training programs with a focus on diversity (but all candidates were still screened for competence, there’s no indication this compromised safety). Also rescinded is President Johnson’s Executive Order 11246, enacted on September 24, 1965, focused on federal hiring broadly.
However these efforts do nothing to end FAA contracting rules that explicitly impose racial and gender diversity quotas on airport contracting.
Looking forward to hearing about the fit pitching and breath holding by the Child-In-Chief when he finds out he really isn’t the Emperor he imagines himself to be.
Equal opportunity or special privileges?
I’m all for equal opportunity, but outcomes should be fairly based on other criteria.
Should there be DEI for upgrades. How about that all business and first class seats must be half women and 15% Black? If there are 30 seats and 20 have paid tickets (not paid upgrades), then the remaining 10 seats would be free upgrades for women if there weren’t enough women business passengers. 5 seats would be for Black or African American passengers.
Others may disagree, but a meritocracy is the only way to ensure a fair outcome across the board. This country has too many opportunities for any and all to be successful. Sure, someone may have to overcome their background regardless of what it might be. But giving opportunities away based solely on someone else’s idea of the perfect quota is quite the opposite of what America is supposed to be about. Some people certainly have had it harder than me as a middle class white man with both parents to love and support me. But if I chose to not have any ambition or pride in doing my best then I wouldn’t be where I am today no matter what my background happened to be. I truly hope we get to a place where DEI and quotas are long gone.
‘DEI’ is a ‘feel good’ idea by the left that has become a boogeyman of the right. Now, ‘abolishing’ it will just be the pretext for firing anyone disloyal, and those of certain backgrounds. Such changes solve nothing. How’s the ‘price of eggs’ going?
‘Airports in the U.S. are largely government-owned, which isn’t how this works in much of the world.’
Gary, I would disagree with that. Most European airports are private or private/public partnerships, but most major Asian airports are government owned (or owned by government enterprises). In some cases, provincial or state governments.
They may be managed by private parties in some cases, but ownership is state.
Affirmative action and quotas of any type are wrong and discriminate against certain businesses or individuals. Sure it can’t be overturned by EO but a law can be passed to end the practice and with GOP control of both houses of Congress I expect that will be forthcoming
@AC – “GOP control of both houses of Congress I expect that will be forthcoming”
I am willing to bet you that the Airport Concession Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program survives this Congress. What would you care to wager?
When they say equitable, or racial quota, how come some airports like SEA have probably 70% of its terminal employees being Somali / Erithrean / Ethiopian?
How is that equitable for the rest of the World?
I’m with the other Richard. Maybe these rules should be changed or at least revised, but the magical thinking that demanding everything be different just because you want it in the moment is the mindset of an entitled rock star or spoiled child. Anyway a pathological liar who thinks he can change the Constitution on his say so (or rename a large international body of water because it “sounds good”) isn’t going to get very far in the real world. Enablers will cheer him on but in time all these pronouncements will be dust.
After a South African, son of apartheid, gave the Nazi salute at the US presidential inauguration, I expect anything from that extremist and corrupt government…
Gary, What makes you so confident at the ACDBE program will survive? (Do you feel the same way about the overall DBE program?) There has been legislation in the past to end the DBE program, for example: https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/832/all-info , and I would think such legislation has a greater chance of passing now, not less.
Sorry, wrong link. This is the link to the Mike Lee bill: https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/5366
@LTL – Congress doesn’t legislate anymore. Maybe someone can get changes attached to FAA Reauthorization for fiscal 2029? This just isn’t going to be a priority in the current Congress.
@Gary – I agree a stand alone bill won’t be a priority but it could easily be slid in as an amendment to something like debt ceiling increase or budgetary funding (you know pork and other amendments are appended to these type of “gotta sign” bills all the time). With the quick action to end the Federal DEI programs I suspect anything that has quotas or even smells like affirmative action is a target.
Problem is minorities stop being classed as minorities . When was the last time “ Jewish” was considered a minority?
In every contract there is a catch all provision that invalidates any provision that is in violation of applicable law or regulations
Some states may continue to embrace these provisions and fight back. Other states will ignore these provisions and allow it to play out in courts
“That’s because they’re written into law and regulation – they can’t simply be reversed by an Executive Order.”
President Bozo thinks he can overturn a constitutional amendment with just his signature. Do you really think a mere law is going to slow him down?
My guess is that without DEI the airport staff makeup would look almost exactly the same.
Who are the folks that can make it to the airport at 430am to start their 5am shift? It surely isn’t me!
Like any job, the #1 priority for management is people who show up on time.
The airport is a horrible work environment: far from home, distant parking, security checkpoints on your way to work, and likely a long process to get hired w background checks, anyone with criminal history is out, etc. It will continue to be primarily the cash cow for those that have less options elsewhere. Yet another job that no one else wants that falls to hard working immigrants.
It’s been several hours since Gary posted this, so I came back here expecting to find the typical right-wing nonsense demonizing ‘the other’ like usual. Alas, nothing yet–quite civil, actually.
Please check up on @AndyS @Mantis @TexasTJ and the others. The post literally had your favorite buzzword ‘DEI’ so… y’all come back now, ya hear!
The problem is that anytime the government gets involved there ends up being cronyism. This turns from trying to support entrepreneurship to functionally greasing palms. Good intentions gone wrong. Needs to go.
Did people from Heritage or AEI put this on your radar, Señor Leff.
Perhaps like the DEI-despising oligarchs — or DEI turncoat oligarchs — they aren’t too concerned with Musk’s fascist salutes that are meant to popularize and normalize its use across the country and the world.
@GUWonder “Did people from Heritage or AEI put this on your radar, Señor Leff.”
A quick search of this site shows I’ve written about the program for years- it’s actually what Airport Dimensions (Collinson) used before the pandemic to protest the award of lounge space in the Austin airport to Manchester Airport Group for an Escape Lounge, which would have become an American Express Centurion Studio. (They managed to muddy up the waters a bit, but claiming that they had a higher ADBE score is irrelevant – it’s not whose bid is the ‘most’ diverse, it’s purely a threshold issue of ‘enough’ diversity. Airport Dimensions also complained – irrelevantly – that Manchester Airport Group is a foreign company. Of course Airport Dimensions is a U.S. subsidiary of a foreign company!)
Just had to tease you with those GMU connections.
“Racial Quotas Remain In” If you wonder why service is lousy, food tastes like garbage, quality is piss-poor and why nothing is good anymore yet costs and arm and a leg it’s because those who run things have given up and retired or moved on to just working for themselves, to serve only themselves. Why compete or work your tail off just to have some unqualified and under motivated person jump ahead of you based on anything but meritocracy. Hopefully things are going to change and quick, the last four years were a failed experiment in everything woke.
@GUWonder neither Heritage nor AEI are super-connected to GMU [though former Heritage President Ed Feulner has been a commenter here on this blog]
I think Trump and Musk want all the top government jobs to go to white people.
You are so wrong, Gary.
I don’t care that they are written into Federal contracts or the CFR or any other law.
When they conflict with the Constitution of the US, they fail and fall, pure and simple.
The Trump administration WANTS to bring this before the US Supreme Court so as to invalidate these impermissible racial or gender set-asides.
It’s cute that leftists think a government handout to a handful of wealthy women and minorities somehow helps women and minorities. But then again, your entire ideology is a lie.
@Ricardo
I love Elon, he becomes more and more powerful everytime you groomers make up an unhinged lie about him.
Alas, we live in a world where supposed do-gooders have gone crazy. Want to remove bias from orchestra tryouts? Have them play behind a screen. But, when that doesn’t get the “diversity” that some want: get rid of the screen.
At my university, the program to help underrepresented groups meant that every small painting firm was headed by women—the wives of the former owner. When will the equal protection clause be supported?
@Mantis @AndyS
What took you guys so long?! I am starting to think you may be the same person, since your posts were so delayed this time and also coincidentally one-after-the-other.
Usually you guy(s) are quicker than this. Did your handlers at the Kremlin give you a day off or something? I should say, ‘good morning’, since, you know, it’s already tomorrow over in St. Petersburg. Oh, sorry, I meant Moscow. Or did they relocate you to the Far East?
Anyway, please continue to spew your disinformation here, rile up us Westerners to hate one another, and destroy us from within because there is no way you defeat us in an actual war.
Speaking of, tell us, who is the ‘enemy from within’ again? Like, who should we blame for our problems? Is it the ‘DEI’ or the ‘leftists’ or the ‘deep state’ or the folks in the ‘Democrat-run’ cities and ‘blue’ states or the ‘brown’ people?
Like, try harder. Turn up the hate. You’re sounding a bit weak and tired these days.
Time to get rid of this nonsense. You don’t fix discrimination by mandating one group gets to move to the front of the line over another.
Political correctness, affirmative action, DEI, etc are all self-defeating. The ideology believes it can eventually create a win/win world by flattening hierarchies. The problem is that in order to produce utopia, the initiatives and the people that run them must become racist, sexist, and divisionary themselves.
It’s been proven Harvard is racist against asians all this time, but they don’t care. These ideologues just shift “programs”/”initiatives” around.
@jake
Well done, sir. You fixed everything. End those ‘evil’ programs and there will be no more bias. Problem solved. We now all get to live in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged together. Rugged individualism shall reign free. Collectivism and egalitarianism be damned. Who is John Galt?
It’s almost as if those ideologies were supposed to lift up the disaffected, disinherited, and downtrodden, but instead, the message was co-opted by right-wing media and politicians into yet another boogeyman. So, instead of social progress, we get more wealth and power redistributed back to the top. May the ‘trickle down’ forever be in your favor. Hey, why is the ‘trickle’ yellow?
1990 that was some pretty profound straw man garbage. I don’t think Kamala could have done better. Congrats!!
DBE is yet another progressive boondoggle that (1) adds significant cost to contracts since for the most part those so called DBE hired are contribute little or nothing to the project; (2) their cost (often 20% or higher) has to be buried in the total cost; (3) insures low quality, if any work since those firms being hired cannot complete in the freeze market place and must hire cheap labor; (4) those “qualifying” as DBE firms are shells that mask offer political kickbacks/pay backs.
This comment is incorrect: “explicit racial (and gender) quotas in contracting.”
The DBE and ACDBE programs are not quotes. They allow for the establishment of a goal based upon the location of the airport and the make-up of its business community. Essentially, they are local business programs.
But a goal is not a quota. If a firm shows they cannot meet the goal, there is no penalty. A quota would have a penalty, a goal does not.
It’s similar to insurance requirements and other grant assurances. Maybe a bidders finds the requirement to hold $20 million in insurance onerous and asks for a variation. Maybe the airport grants the request and then alters the terms.
Once the contract is signed, then all terms in the contract become binding regardless of the source, goal, proposal, etc. That’s where things get real.
But the DBE and ACDBE programs are NOT RACIAL QUOTAS.
The racial goal must be set, and once the goal is set, airports select bids that meet the racial targets.
Slight correction…..the DBE portions of these contracts specify a certain percent of the total contract value must be allocated to these scaled DBE businesses. Even though there may not be specified penalties if the goal is not met I can guarantee: (1) the DBE firms will be all over the contracting (political) entry if not “getting their fair share: (2) those firms not meeting it will face automatic disqualification from any further bids.