43 TAC § 9.202. Definitions

The following words and terms, when used in this subchapter, shall have the following meanings, unless specified otherwise.

(1) Contract--A legally binding relationship obligating a seller to furnish supplies or services, including construction and professional services, and the buyer to pay for them. The term includes a lease.

(2) Contractor--One who participates, through a contract or any tier of subcontract, in a highway, transit, or airport program.

(3) Department--The Texas Department of Transportation.

(4) Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE)--A for-profit small business:

(A) that is 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; and

(B) whose management and daily business operations are controlled by one or more of the socially and economically disadvantaged individuals who own it.

(5) District engineer--The chief administrative officer in charge of a district of the department.

(6) Division--An organizational unit of the department located in the department's Austin headquarters.

(7) DOT--The U.S. Department of Transportation, including the Office of the Secretary of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

(8) Executive director--The executive director of the department.

(9) Good faith efforts--Efforts that by their scope, intensity, and appropriateness to the objective can reasonably be expected to fulfill the DBE program requirement.

(10) Native Hawaiian--Any individual whose ancestors were natives, prior to 1778, of the area that now comprises the State of Hawaii.

(11) Operating Administration (OA)--Any of the following components of DOT: the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and Federal Transit Administration (FTA).

(12) Race-conscious means--A method that is focused specifically on assisting only businesses that are DBEs, including women-owned DBEs.

(13) Race-neutral means--A method that is, or can be, used to assist all small businesses rather than only DBEs. The term includes gender-neutral means.

(14) Recipient--A public or private entity that:

(A) receives DOT financial assistance directly or through another recipient, through the programs of the FAA, FHWA, or FTA; or

(B) has applied for the assistance described by subparagraph (A) of this paragraph.

(15) Socially and economically disadvantaged individual--An individual who is a citizen or lawfully admitted permanent resident of the U.S. and:

(A) whom a recipient finds to be a socially and economically disadvantaged individual on a case-by-case basis; or

(B) who is a member of one of the following groups, whose members 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 Mariana 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; and

(vii) any additional groups whose members are designated as socially and economically disadvantaged by the Small Business Administration (SBA), at such time as the SBA designation becomes effective.