The N.C. Department of Transportation’s
Office of Civil Rights, in accordance with
North Carolina G.S. 136-28.4 hired a firm to conduct a disparity study. The study analyzed the availability and utilization of disadvantaged, minority-owned and women-owned businesses in contracts for planning, design, preconstruction, construction, alteration or maintenance of state transportation infrastructure.
The study included a review of NCDOT’s policies and practices related to contracting for all aspects of the state transportation infrastructure and anecdotal evidence gathered from business owners across the NCDOT marketplace. Modes included in this analysis are highways, bridges, rail, ferry, general aviation airports, and public transit facilities and the procurement of materials for projects in those categories.
Below are answers to some of the most common questions about the independent disparity study.
A disparity study is a legal study to determine if there are disparities between the availability of disadvantaged minority-owned and women-owned firms (collectively "M/W/DBE") and their utilization in NCDOT contracting.
Disparity studies provide the factual basis for remedial contracting programs, demonstrating disparities in NCDOT contracting by race and gender status of business owners. The study will also help determine the need for, use of, or continuation of race and/or gender-based programs that address the identified disparities.
It is the desire of the state of North Carolina to promote equity in public contracting. To this end, NCDOT is required to conduct a disparity study that provides the factual basis of the presence of disparities in NCDOT contracting. This study may support the use of programs to remediate any identified disparities and will satisfy the requirements of strict scrutiny established by the U.S. Supreme Court in City of Richmond v. J.A. Croson Co., 488 U.S. 469 (1989) and Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena, 515 U.S. 200 (1995).
Griffin & Strong, P.C., a law and public policy consulting firm, conducted the 2019 disparity study.
You can read the study
here.
To learn more about NCDOT’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program, visit
NCDOT’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise programs.