On December 5th, 2013, Toya Estes, President of J&B, went to Washington with fellow Ohio Contractors Association members to participate in the "Listening Session" at the USDOT Headquarters. 

 The listening session allowed participants to voice their opinions and concerns about the USDOT's current rulemaking for the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program.  The Department's proposal, originally released in September 2012, would centralize more DBE and policy and implementation decisions at the federal level.  If enacted in full, the new rules would make significant increases in the requirements for DBEs to become and remain certified, leave the decision as to whether or not a contractor was disadvantaged to a judgment call by DOT employees, require prime contractors to submit all DBE and good faith efforts information with their bids, strengthen sanctions against prime contractors not deemed to comply with good faith effort procedures, and make it more difficult for state DOTs to adjust DBE goals to reflect market condition.