DBE, Video transcripts

DBE

Eligibility requirements

DBE - Video transcripts

CRCS - HCCI overview

Hi. I am Tess Mulrooney from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation working with the Civil Rights Compliance System. I am the project manager who is supporting this product for the department.

This is one in a series of three videos that will help demonstrate the features of the Civil Rights Compliance System. The three segments that we have are the DBE firm perspective, which is this video; one for sublets and payments, for DBEs which will be working on our projects; and how the system can be useful if your firm is not assigned to any projects.

The Civil Rights Compliance System was created primarily to manage WisDOT’s Marquette Interchange project in downtown Milwaukee. It was the department’s first megaproject, and we knew we needed extra tracking tools to manage the millions of dollars being paid out to Disadvantaged Business Enterprises and other contracting firms. We needed to ensure prompt payments were being made and manage the project goals. Several additional features were added so that we can additionally track everything related to disadvantaged business enterprise firms.

Among the things I want to talk about in this video are: what is the certification process; how to renew a certification; trucking schedules; and some contact names.

Certification Process

The DBE application packet includes a spot where we need to have the vendor id recorded. In the past, we had requested you to register your firm and record this id, but we later found out we did not know the account information so we could load your signature for the affidavit.

A certification in the Wisconsin Unified Certification Program (UCP) is good for all four of the partners. These are Dane County, the City of Madison, Milwaukee County, and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Our certification is not the same as that at the Wisconsin Department of Commerce, and none of the partners will accept their certification. Since 2006, the partners have shared a database of certified firms, however each is responsible for certifying firms which are most likely to do business with them.

I sometimes get questions from firms asking if they couldn’t enter their entire application into the system. The answer is no. Only a small part of the data is needed on an ongoing basis. Most is used for one-time analysis, such as banking information.

On this particular screen, I am showing you some of the initial fields that we need to enter for a new DBE applicant. Every applicant must be registered, whether we have done it or someone else has on your behalf. Each registration is treated as a separate company, so it will later be important to renew the registration instead of creating a new one. Otherwise, we have one expired company which is a DBE and another company which is not a DBE, both with the same name and no one knows which firm is the DBE…

We track and send letters to the e-mail address cited as the Bidder’s Contact. This is true for new applicants, the affidavit process, and the 5-year renewal process. I am told that we will always request additional information for an applicant to ensure our staff are interpreting things correctly. For instance, if you are a member of one of the tribal nations, we need to have documentation to prove that you are a member of that nation. The system may e-mail you a variety of letters. These letters will only happen if it looks like your firm will not be certified: notice of intent to deny certification, informal hearing available, and informal hearing scheduled. The final two status letters for a new applicant are certification approval and certification denial. We rarely send the certification denial, feeling that it is preferable to allow firms to withdraw their applications…

This is an example of an e-mail that would come to you saying that your firm has been approved. The e-mail is very brief, but attached is a Word document that contains the letter relating to your firm…

Renew a Certification

Eleven months later, the system will know that your firm needs to renew its information. While a UCP certification is good for five years, we can’t just walk away because firms move or change phone numbers or e-mail addresses. We have an annual affidavit process which allows us to keep in touch with you. This will happen in years 1, 2, 3, and 4. You will renew the registration, sign an online affidavit, and submit your taxes via mail or e-mail to the partner which certified your firm.

The recertification process, now the 5-year renewal process, happens only in the fifth year. This includes the registration renewal and submitting a smaller version of the application form, along with taxes and a revised personal net worth statement.

The trucking schedule, only for firms certified for dump truck work, is due in the spring of every year. We understand how intense our construction season is, so we try to have all leases and new trucks approved before the height of season hits. The federal government (the Federal Highways Administration) requires us to collect leases every year, or in lieu of a lease, a statement that the lease continues on from the prior year. The trucking schedule, just like the annual affidavit, is going to be submitted and filed online.

Let me give you a couple of views of what the annual affidavit is going to look like. First you are going to receive an e-mail from the system which is going to look a little bit like this. I’ve removed some paragraphs from the text. If you don’t recall your logon id or password, you should receive them from the certifying agency. Now I am going to log on. A user id is almost always an e-mail address. A password is always case sensitive.

If you have the Caps Lock turned on, for instance, and you type in your password correctly, you could get a message that indicates the user id or password were incorrect. If the user id remains on the screen but the password disappears, that could be a warning that your browser is hitting a pop-up window, whether it acknowledges it or not. Passwords do not appear, but you can see the number of characters which have been typed.

When a registration is expiring, a pop-up window is always present. It will indicate the number of days until the registration has expired or it will indicate that the registration is expired. Once expired, you cannot use the system again until the registration is renewed. Somewhere on your screen, it should indicate that a pop-up window has been blocked, click for further details. Ideally, your browser should treat this site as a trusted site for pop-ups. If you see nothing, look for the word Tools or the icon for it and go to Pop-up Blocker settings. I am unable to tell you precisely what to do if you are using Firefox or Safari. Renew the registration, knowing that only our staff can update the federal employer id or owner information.

Once the registration is complete, I might see a message about projects requiring electronic payrolls or payments which need to be confirmed. For the affidavit process, you should be looking for a large-font blue link telling you to click to find the affidavit. The personal net worth amount is changed occasionally but it not an active part of the affidavits process. Assuming the information is still true, click on the Sign button and enter the signature password; it is also case sensitive. You should see your name appear beside the key icon. Click on Submit to complete the process. The screen will clear and the affidavit link will be cleared for another year. Then you simply have to mail or e-mail your taxes in for the requested year.

It is possible that your firm has multiple owners meeting the DBE criteria. If so, every one of the owners must log on and sign their own affidavit. Only one of the owners will be renewing the registration screen.

If no link is present for the affidavit, it is likely the certifying agency has mistyped an owner’s name. Compare the name in the upper right corner in orange with the name displayed on the Company Profile screen under Company (if the registration screen has already been renewed). They must match.

Trucking Schedule

Let us look next at the trucking schedule which is patterned on the annual affidavit. If your certification has just taken place, WisDOT staff will enter the information for you, assuming the form was submitted with the application. In subsequent years, we will have you update the information as needed and resubmit it.

If the schedule needs to be submitted during the year, it is always in the system for you. You can modify it as many times as necessary as the season progresses.

You will not find a link when you log on for the trucking schedule. Instead, it is hanging off the main menu under the option UCP. Choose Trucking Schedules, and you should see a link for the present year. “Received notice” indicates the system has e-mailed you to complete your schedule. Unless this is present, you will not be able to submit a schedule. If your affidavit has not been completed, the link will be missing.

Click on Edit. Then you will see a new screen to add additional trucks. Down below this will be any trucks from a prior version of the schedule for editing or removing.

Identify whether you own or lease the truck. Ideally we want all leased trucks to be registered so you can find them in the drop-down list, but initially it is more important to record the truck. Use the box to the right of Other Owner (Not Listed) to identify the firm’s name. A registered truck will also provide our staff with the owner’s name which can be very useful. Something must be entered in every field. VINs can be tricky because various years have a length requirement. Click on Add Vehicle.

To submit the schedule, click on Submit Application. You will have to sign it as well, although the Sign button is missing. Click on the key icon to bring up the pop-up window. Then Submit.

This will send it on to WisDOT staff to review against leases and new titles. The only approval you will see will be on the initial link under UCP, Trucking Schedule. It can be modified at any time.

Contact names

Near where you found this video you will also find a manual if you would like to see screen by screen details.

Annual affidavits and 5-year renewals:

Names and phone numbers for each of the partners may be found on https://app.mylcm.com/wisdot/Logout.aspx

Trucking schedules:

Paul Ndon (414) 438-2146

UCP directory:
https://app.mylcm.com/wisdot/Reports/WisDotUCPDirectory.aspx

Back to DBE home

Return to top