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 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 DBE Direct, 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 (786) 390-5709.