The Regulations that govern the ACDBE program define “Concession” to mean one or more of the following types of for-profit businesses:

(1) A business, located in an airport, that is engaged in the sale of consumer goods or services to the public under an agreement with the airport, another concessionaire, or the owner or lessee of a terminal, if other than the airport.

(2) A business conducting one or more of the following covered activities, even if it does not maintain an office, store, or other business location on an airport, as long as the activities take place on the airport: Management contracts and subcontracts, a web-based or other electronic business in a terminal or which passengers can access at the terminal, an advertising business that provides advertising displays or messages to the public on the airport, or a business that provides goods and services to concessionaires.

The Regulation provides the following example to paragraph (2):   A supplier of goods or a management contractor maintains its office or primary place of business off the airport. However the supplier provides goods to a retail establishment in the airport; or the management contractor operates the parking facility on the airport. These businesses are considered concessions for purposes of ACDBE program.

(3) A business is not considered to be “located on the airport” solely because it picks up and/or delivers customers under a permit, license, or other agreement. For example, providers of taxi, limousine, car rental, or hotel services are not considered to be located on the airport just because they send shuttles onto airport grounds to pick up passengers or drop them off. A business is considered to be “located on the airport,” however, if it has an on-airport facility. Such facilities include in the case of a taxi operator, a dispatcher; in the case of a limousine, a booth selling tickets to the public; in the case of a car rental company, a counter at which its services are sold to the public or a ready return facility; and in the case of a hotel operator, a hotel located anywhere on airport property.

(4) A concession may be operated under various types of agreements, including but not limited to the following:

(i) Leases.

(ii) Subleases.

(iii) Permits.

(iv) Contracts or subcontracts.

(v) Other instruments or arrangements.

(5) The conduct of an aeronautical activity is not necessarily considered a concession for  purposes of the ACDBE program. Aeronautical activities include scheduled and non-scheduled air carriers, air taxis, air charters, and air couriers, in their normal passenger or freight carrying capacities; fixed base operators; flight schools; recreational service providers ( e.g., sky-diving, parachute-jumping, flying guides); and air tour services.

(6) Other examples of entities that do not meet the definition of a concession include flight kitchens and in-flight caterers servicing air carriers, government agencies, industrial plants, farm leases, individuals leasing hangar space, custodial and security contracts, telephone and electric service to the airport facility, holding companies, and skycap services under contract with an air carrier or airport.

At Kleiner & Cazeau we are prepared to assist eligible firms in obtaining ACDBE certification, appealing certification denials, defending eligible firms in bid protests or initiating bid protests against firms not eligible to participate in the program. If you are interested in obtaining ACDBE certification or have questions or concerns about the program please call us at (305) 517-1392 ext 102.

ACDBE is an acronym for Airport Concessions Disadvantaged Business Enterprise. The ACDBE Program is similar to the DBE program in that it is a Department of Transportation (DOT) program designed to level the playing field for small businesses who wish to participate in contracting opportunities at airports.

To be an ACDBE a firm must meet the following criteria:

1)  Operate as a for-profit business concern (no non-profits).

2) Be a small business as defined by the Small Business Administration

3) Be at least 51 percent owned by one or more individuals who are both socially and economically disadvantaged or, in the case of a corporation, in which 51 percent of the stock is owned by one or more such individuals

4) An ACDBE’s management and daily business operations must be controlled by one or more of the socially and economically disadvantaged individuals who own it.

5) Owners must be a citizen or citizen (or lawfully admitted permanent resident) of the United States.

Socially and economically disadvantaged individual means any individual who is a and who is—

1) Any individual in the following groups, members of which are rebuttably presumed to be socially and economically disadvantaged:

(i) “Black Americans,” which includes persons having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa;

(ii) “Hispanic Americans,” which includes persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, Central or South American, or other Spanish or Portuguese culture or origin, regardless of race;

(iii) “Native Americans,” which includes persons who are American Indians, Eskimos, Aleuts, or Native Hawaiians;

(iv) “Asian-Pacific Americans,” which includes persons whose origins are from Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, Burma (Myanmar), Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia (Kampuchea), Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei, Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands (Republic of Palau), the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, Macao, Fiji, Tonga, Kirbati, Juvalu, Nauru, Federated States of Micronesia, or Hong Kong;

(v) “Subcontinent Asian Americans,” which includes persons whose origins are from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives Islands, Nepal or Sri Lanka;

(vi) Women;

(vii) Any additional groups whose members are designated as socially and economically disadvantaged by the SBA, at such time as the SBA designation becomes effective.

(viii) Any individual determined by a recipient to be a socially and economically disadvantaged individual on a case-by-case basis.

At Kleiner & Cazeau we are prepared to assist eligible firms in obtaining ACDBE certification, appealing certification denials, defending eligible firms in bid protests or initiating bid protests against firms not eligible to participate in the program. If you are interested in obtaining ACDBE certification or have questions or concerns about the program please call us at (305) 517-1392 ext 102.