Oklahoma infrastructure plagued by costly federal mandates

Federal mandates needlessly cost taxpayers millions. The federal government sets a specific percentage to be allocated to disadvantaged businesses for each highway contract. A DBE is typically a startup, smaller, newer contractor owned by a woman or minority.

Unfortunately, over the last 18 months, the lowest bids failed to meet the DBE target 11 times, resulting in bid rejection and higher bids selected with a total cost of more than $7.6 million.

Oklahoma was singled out and forced to accept a DBE mandate of about 20%, twice the rate of some other states, because of a historic complaint filed when Biden was vice president about ODOT’s underemployment of minority subcontractors.

$7.6 million is just the starting point. The mandate poses significant obstacles. There aren’t enough DBEs in Oklahoma, leading to delays and higher costs as contractors try to stay within established quotas.

Searching for available and affordable DBEs is time-consuming and expensive, with the average contractor spending approximately $2,500 per bid. When bids are opened every two weeks, these costs add up quickly and ultimately fall on taxpayers.

The direct and indirect costs of such fines place a heavy burden on taxpayers.

I support providing opportunities for underrepresented groups. However, we need to balance this with the overall cost and whether it achieves its purpose.

Editor’s Note: TW Shannon represented the 62nd Oklahoma House District from 2007 to 2015. In 2013-2014, he was the first Black House speaker in Oklahoma.

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