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California transportation secretary urges DBEs to pursue new state and federal funding opportunities
Summary
At the second annual DBE Summit, California Secretary of Transportation Tokso Mashakin urged small, disadvantaged and veteran-owned businesses to get certified and compete for a surge in federal and state infrastructure funding, citing the IJA and state allocations by Governor Newsom.
Tokso Mashakin, California's secretary of transportation, opened the second annual DBE Summit and urged disadvantaged business enterprises, disabled veteran business enterprises and other small firms to pursue certification and bid on expanding infrastructure work.
"It's a really exciting time, in the transportation space, in the infrastructure space in the state because more money than ever before is being put into our industry," Mashakin said, pointing to federal funding from the Biden-Harris administration and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IJA).
Mashakin singled out state investments announced by Governor Gavin Newsom, saying the governor is "setting aside nearly $10,000,000,000 for transportation," as well as "billions" for broadband and "$1,200,000,000 into Clean California," and framed those allocations as new opportunities for small contractors.
The secretary emphasized that access to contracts depends on awareness and certification. "We need to make sure that businesses, small businesses, DBEs across the state have access, and that they're aware, they know how to become certified, qualified, ultimately, competitive to be able to bid on work," Mashakin said. He named Caltrans, the high-speed rail program and the Department of Motor Vehicles as among the state entities offering opportunities.
The remarks framed the summit as an in-person opportunity for several hundred businesses to learn about procurement pathways and certification steps needed to compete for state and federally funded projects. Mashakin closed by urging businesses to pursue those pathways to "do work with the state and serve, the people of California."
No formal actions or votes were recorded during this opening presentation; the remarks were an informational call to increase outreach and help businesses navigate certification and bidding processes.
