Train a comin' the disadvantaged business enterprise/small business enterprise program at metro Denver's regional transportation District has won kudos for its aggressive approach - and impressive results.

In 2004, Regional Transportation District General Manager Phillip Washington "was tasked to take an already successful Disadvantaged Business Enterprise/Small Business Enterprise Program to another level," he remembers.

At the time, the ongoing light-rail expansion dubbed FasTracks was in its infancy, and Washington, then RTD's assistant GM of administration, and his team focused on fostering public participation, training, support programs and compliance.

It took Washington and company a year to draw up and implement the FasTracks DBE/SBE Program. The hard work paid off: Seven years later, the program is firmly established as one of the best of its kind in the United States. Case in point: Of the nearly $I billion FasTracks dollars spent to date, roughly 20 percent was committed to disadvantaged and small-business enterprises, and 90 percent of those businesses are local.

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A few basic points on the policy: To be designated a disadvantaged business enterprise, a company typically must be majority-owned by minorities or women. RTD qualifies small business enterprises based on annual revenues under about S20 million and majority owners with a net worth under S750,000. Such programs are taken into consideration by federal agencies when funding transit projects.

Despite the program's successes, Washington, whose ascent up RTD's ranks mirrors that of the program he helped create, is not done yet. "We continue to improve and recalibrate," he says.

Washington attributes the program's success to open communication channels with the contractors, DBE/SBE owners, and the community at large. '"The bonding program that we implemented a couple of years ago has removed one of the major barriers for small and minority-owned construction firms to gel work. Our practice of breaking up large jobs into small, manageable chunks of work has allowed DBEs and SBEs to bid on work that they would otherwise not be able to bid on."

Washington says the program has become germane to RTD's organizational culture. "The mandatory training of all of our project managers on the DBE/SBE Program has allowed our managers to understand the importance of the program, and including it as an individual manager performance evaluation goal has also emphasized the program.

"The support and guidance of the RTD board of directors has been paramount," he adds. "Their insistence on providing a level playing-field for small and disadvantaged businesses has been a major reason why the program has been a success."

Barbara Brohl, a member of the RTD board of directors and chairwoman for its SBE/DBE committee...