Home / Services / DBE / MBE Participation Reporting

Participation & subcontractor compliance

DBE / MBE Participation Reporting

Prime and sub DBE/MBE participation on public-works and federal-aid contracts tracked to the percentage point and filed on the awarding body's schedule: B2Gnow entries, commercially useful function checks, before the audit finds the gap.

Request a compliance review All services

Why it matters

Contracts carrying DBE or MBE goals require participation entered on the awarding body's schedule, not the contractor's own. Miss a B2Gnow reporting cycle and the finding surfaces at closeout, with no time left to fix it. Under 49 CFR Part 26, an unmet goal without a documented good-faith effort can hold retention, trigger a compliance review, or feed a debarment referral, and the commercially-useful-function test on subcontractor work gets checked line by line.

How we do the work

Method

01

Goal and system intake

Read the contract's DBE/MBE/SBE goal, identify the awarding body's reporting system, and confirm whether entries are due monthly, per pay period, or per milestone.

02

B2Gnow setup and entry

Enter prime and subcontractor commitments into the agency's B2Gnow portal (used by California awarding bodies including Caltrans and LA Metro), matched to certification numbers and NAICS codes.

03

Commercially useful function check

Confirm each DBE/MBE sub is performing a commercially useful function under 49 CFR 26.55 before its dollars count toward the goal. Pass-through arrangements get flagged here, not by the agency later.

04

Period reconciliation

Reconcile actual payments against committed participation every reporting period. A shortfall gets caught while there's still time to document a good-faith effort or bring on a substitute sub.

05

Closeout utilization report

Assemble the final DBE/MBE utilization report tying every paid dollar to a certified subcontractor, formatted for the awarding body's closeout audit.

The gate

The review gate

This line is held to the same standard as the compliance flagship: checked, reconciled, and held back the moment something doesn't add up.

Request a compliance review

What you receive

Deliverables

  • B2Gnow entries for prime and subcontractor participation, filed on the awarding body's schedule
  • Commercially-useful-function file for every DBE/MBE subcontractor (49 CFR 26.55 documentation)
  • Per-pay-period participation summary reconciled against actual payments
  • Good-faith-effort package for any goal shortfall (outreach log, sub solicitation, substitution record)
  • Final DBE/MBE utilization report for contract closeout
  • Certification and NAICS cross-check log tying each sub to an active UCP or SBA certification
Scope, plainly statedWe track and prepare DBE/MBE participation data on contracts that already carry a goal, and enter it in your own B2Gnow account, on your instruction and under your credentials; you retain signing authority on every certification and we never sign one for you. we do not certify firms as DBE or MBE (that runs through the awarding body's Unified Certification Program or the SBA) and we do not represent a contractor in a compliance review or debarment proceeding. Every B2Gnow entry and utilization report runs through pre-flight checks against source payment records and is read by a person before you submit it. No contractor's or professional license is required to perform this work.

DBE/MBE reporting is $455 a month per active contract, and $340 for each contract beyond the third run concurrently, the same figures you will see in the engagement builder. Project volume and reporting cadence are confirmed in the countersigned engagement. Configure this service and see your estimate in the engagement builder.

Pricing & scope

Questions contractors ask

Common questions

Do you certify our firm as a DBE or MBE?

No. Certification runs through the awarding body's Unified Certification Program, the SBA, or a local minority/women business registry. We track and report participation on contracts that already carry those goals; we don't determine eligibility.

Which reporting systems do you work in?

Whatever the awarding body specifies. B2Gnow is used by California awarding bodies including Caltrans and LA Metro. We enter prime and sub data on the agency's schedule, matched to certification numbers and payment records.

What happens if we're going to miss a participation goal?

We build the good-faith-effort record before the shortfall becomes a compliance review finding: outreach log, sub solicitation, substitution attempts. Under 49 CFR Part 26, it's the undocumented shortfall that triggers escalation, not the shortfall itself.

Aeternus Dynamics uses AI-assisted tools to help prepare and check compliance documents; all deliverables are reviewed by a qualified human before submission or use. Aeternus Dynamics is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. See our Terms & Disclosures.

Start an engagement

Select your services, see the scope and price, and sign in one sitting, or start with the free, no-obligation audit of your last filing.

Open the engagement builder

Request a compliance review instead