The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) ended its Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) goals on October 2. TDOT announced the decision just days after the U.S. Department of Transportation released new guidance that warned the previous guidelines, issued during the Biden era, likely violated the Constitution.
TDOT’s decision was revealed in a Monday post to X by attorney Dan Lennington of the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, who represented The Tennessee Star in its litigation to compel the FBI to release the writings by the transgender Covenant School killer.
According to the notice posted by Lennington, TDOT has notified vendors that it has amended, “the bid file and proposal book by removing the DBE Goal,” in accordance with, “guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Civil Rights on September 30, 2025.”
Georgia & Tennessee announce new race- and sex-neutral highway contracts. No more DBE discrimination! pic.twitter.com/C5hMKJluBX
— Dan Lennington (@DanLennington) October 6, 2025
The DBE Program was established in 1983 to encourage the Transportation Department to award more contracts to diverse companies. However, in 2021, it was modified by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a Democratic infrastructure package championed by former President Joe Biden.
“Unfortunately, not all individuals have been treated equally under this program,” wrote the Transportation Department when explaining the new guidance issued on September 30. “Instead, Congress has mandated that DOT treat certain individuals—women and members of certain racial and ethnic groups—as ‘presumed’ to be disadvantaged,” while others “do not benefit from that presumption.”
According to the federal agency, “This means that two similarly situated small business owners may face different standards for entering the program, based solely on their race, ethnicity, or sex.”
Noting that a federal judge recently ruled this is likely to amount to an unconstitutional equal protection violation, the Department of Transportation said that, “determined that the DBE program’s race- and sex-based presumptions do not comply with the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, which prohibits the Federal Government from depriving individuals of the equal protection of the laws.”
Instead of presuming disadvantaged status based on race or gender, the department said that companies must now demonstrate their status “without regard to race or sex,” based on a “personal narrative” explaining their situation.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Duh! Common sense!
What took so long?!!