For-profit business concern which is: (1) at least 51 percent owned by one or more individuals who are both socially and economically disadvantaged, or in the case of a corporation, 51 percent of the stock of which is owned by one or more such individuals; and (2) whose management and daily business operations are controlled by one or more of the socially and economically disadvantaged individuals who own it. A not-for-profit firm may not be certified as a DBE. However, a firm owned by an Indian Tribe or Alaska Native Corporation as an entity maybe certified as a DBE.

"Socially and economically disadvantaged individuals" means any individual who is a citizen or lawfully admitted permanent resident of the United States who is: (1) any individual who a recipient finds to be a socially and economically disadvantaged individual on a case-by-case basis, or (2) any individual in the following groups, members of which are refutably presumed to be socially and economically disadvantaged: Black Americans; Hispanic Americans; Native Americans (American Indians, Eskimos, Aleuts, or Native Hawaiians); Asian-Pacific Americans; Subcontinent Asian Americans; women; any individual groups whose members are designated as socially and economically disadvantaged by the Small Business Administration.

All FTA recipients who receive $250,000 or more in FTA planning, capital, and/or operating assistance in a Federal Fiscal Year, and who let DOT-assisted contracts, must have a DBE program which meets the requirements of 49 CFR Part 26.