| What is the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Exchange? | |
The Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Exchange virtual home base for Disadvantaged Business Enterprise information and knowledge for staff across FHWA. This home base provides a means for consistent information dissemination and access, ties together Field, HQ, and R&D for knowledge exchange, captures knowledge from staff who are approaching retirement, and enables new staff to be productive quickly.
Click the links below to view the following sections:
Acknowledgement and Acceptance of Terms of Use
Accessibility
What kind of information and interactivity does the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Exchange offer?
How do I use the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Exchange's main features?
State DOT DBE Program Officers
Contact Information
| | Acknowledgement and Acceptance of Terms of Use | |
By using the DBE site, you agree to the following:
1. You understand that this site may experience failures or other service outages without notice.
2. You will not hold the FHWA or the creators, operators, or related entities to the site responsible or liable ("indemnify and hold harmless") for the inability to connect to or use the site, or for any loss or corrupted data, or for any defamatory or offensive material(s) which you may encounter on or originating from this site, or for the conduct, opinions, or publications of any user, or for any other problem whatsoever related to the use or existence of the site.
3. You understand that the FHWA has no obligation to acknowledge, mediate, or otherwise settle any disputes or differences in opinion that may arise between users.
Additional terms and conditions are listed below.
The DBE site includes a discussion area that allows feedback and interaction among users. The FHWA encourages the free expression of your ideas and opinions as long as they are responsible, free of insult, respectful of others, do make public accusations related to specific corporations, individuals, or contracts, and conform to the site purpose. Please see the home page for links to appropriate contacts to file specific complaints, etc. However, we do not control or censor messages, information, or files delivered to discussion groups. It is a condition of your use of the discussion area that you do not:
1. Falsely present yourself as a representative, employee, or official of a governmental entity by accidental or deliberate means including misleading or confusing statements in your postings.
2. Stray from the discussion topic, or make personal attacks on other DBE website users and/or participants (personal attacks are defined as comments that reflect upon the person instead of their opinion), or make specific accusations regarding individual corporations or contracts (please see the home page for links to appropriate contacts for specific complaints).
3. Post or transmit any slanderous, defamatory, obscene, indecent, pornographic, profane, violent, abusive, insulting, threatening, offensive or harassing comments and/or information of any kind. We will not tolerate such postings, including without limitation any transmissions constituting or encouraging conduct that would constitute a criminal offense.
4. Post or re-post a message excessively, especially unsolicited advertisements, even if they are directly or indirectly related to the purpose of the site. Advertising of any kind, including non-profit organizations, is not permitted.
5. Add or post any copyrighted material to the DBE site, without written permission of the copyright owner.
The FHWA and the creators, owners, operators, or related entities to the site have no obligation to monitor the discussion groups. However, they reserve the right at all times to disclose any information as necessary to satisfy any law and regulation and to edit, refuse to post, or to remove any information or links, in whole or in part, that are in violation of these terms and conditions or of applicable law.
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This site is compliant with accessibility standards for electronic and information technology covered by section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998, and all pages at this site are screen reader accessible. However, this site may contain downloadable reference material in the non-accessible Adobe Acrobat format. Adobe has made available to the public a set of free tools that allow visually disabled users to read documents in Adobe PDF format. These tools convert PDF documents into either HTML or ASCII text which can then be read by many screen reading programs. For more information about these tools or to download one or more of these tools, please visit http://access.adobe.com.
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| | What kind of information and interactivity does the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Exchange offer? | | |
At the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Exchange, you can review reference materials, working statements, and plans, as well as hold discussions about a variety of DBE issues. All references and State Practices are posted in Adobe 4 PDF, Microsoft Word 2000, or Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 format. You must have free reader software installed on your computer to view these files. The following links will allow you to download necessary viewers from the vendors:
Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) file viewer
Microsoft Word 2000 (.doc) file viewer
Microsoft Powerpoint 2000 (.ppt) file viewer
Collaboration: State Practices, Discussions, and Member Directories. The State Practices section is where the site administrator places State Practices, statements, and plans for review. At the Discussion section, you can submit general comments or start a new discussion. If you wish to attach a document with your comments and suggestions, please contact the site administrator. At the Directory, you will find contact information for all identified users. The Reference section contains background papers, reports, and other documents. You can choose to view this information with your browser or download information to your computer for later use. Information Subscriptions: Bringing the Information to You.Fill out a My Interests profile that tells the DBE site what topics are of interest to you. The site will automatically notify you once daily via e-mail when new items are added. The e-mail contains not only the title of the item but also an abstract of the item and a URL that links directly to the item at the site.
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| | How do I use the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Exchange's main features? | |
Accessing the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Exchange. Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Exchange is located at http://knowledge.fhwa.dot.gov/cops/dbex.nsf/home. You navigate through the site by clicking on buttons and links to reach different sections. From the home page, you can choose to enter a group area sub page, execute a search, go to other sections of the site such as the My Interests form, or click on hyperlinks to related web sites. You can provide feedback about the value of the site by clicking on the Feedback link or send an e-mail message to the site administrator if you have any technical comments or questions.
| Accessing a Group Area. Click on one of the group areas listed on the site home page. This brings you to an area sub page. A general description of the items in the group area appears at the top of the page, as well as tabs that give you access to the four different sections: Discussion, Reference, State Practices, and Directory.
| Viewing and Downloading State Practices. Viewing and Downloading State Practices. To start, click on the State Practices tab. To open an individual State Practice item, click on its underlined title. A cover sheet will appear in the browser. Click on the attachment icon to view the document. This function will only work if your browser is configured to do so. If you encounter problems, see your computer support personnel for further assistance in setting up your browser. To download an attachment onto your computer for use offline right click on the attachment icon or the download link. From the menu, Internet Explorer users then select "Save Target As" and select a destination for the file, and Netscape users select "Save Link As" and select a destination for the file. To submit your comments electronically, hit the "Respond" button on the cover sheet. Fill in the required subject and body fields and include contact information if you would like to do so. Hit the "Submit" button to save the response to the site.
| Reading and Participating in Discussions. Click on the Discussion tab found below the general description. The discussions are arranged in threads. The response to each discussion item is indented and grouped below the original question or comment, so that you can follow individual discussions as they progress. If you want to view a discussion item or a response, click on its underlined title to open it. You can read the comment, question or response, and view any responses to a discussion item by clicking through the thread found at the bottom. To add your response, click on the Respond button beneath the body of the discussion item, accept the default subject or type a new subject, and write your response. To create a new discussion item, click on the Create Discussion Topic graphic beneath the tabs, type in a subject heading and then type in your comment or question.
| | Viewing and Downloading References. Go to the area sub page and click on the Reference tab. To open an individual reference, click on its blue underlined title. The reference item (a cover sheet for any attached reference documents) will appear in the browser. To view an attachment, such as a WordPerfect or Word document or Adobe Acrobat file, double-click on the attachment icon. This function will only work if your browser is configured to do so (see your office's information technology contact for further browser assistance). To download an attachment onto your computer, right click on the attachment icon. Internet Explorer users then select Save Target As and select a destination for the file, and Netscape users select Save Link As and select a destination for the file.
| Viewing Directories. Each group area has a member directory with the names of all who have voluntarily submitted their contact information and agreed to display it on the site. When you create your My Interests form, you will specify which group areas you wish to be listed in and whether or not your information should be listed online. Go to the area sub pages and click on the Directory tab. If you have chosen to include it in the site directory, your name is listed along with your organization name, phone number, fax, and/or e-mail address.
| Creating and Editing the My Interests Form. As discussed above, you can sign up for group areas, choose what information (if any) about you will appear in the member directories, and set your preferences for e-mail notification at the My Interest form.
| To create a new My Interests form, go to the bottom of the site home page and click on the My Interests link. Then click on the I want to create a new My Interests form graphic to open a new form. If you would like to be listed as a user in one or more group areas, provide your information and specify whether or not you want it to be listed in the directory. Then select which of the group area(s) of which you would like to be a member by checking one or more of the boxes.
| The next part of the form lets you set your e-mail notification preferences. To be notified when anything new is added to one or more areas, check the box next to the group area title. To be notified when one or more specific keywords are added to the site in State Practices, Discussion, or Reference documents, enter your keywords in the box at the bottom of the form. Please separate your keywords (or strings of keywords) with a comma(,), semicolon(;) or by pressing enter. Please do not use quotation marks or ampersands. Then click the Submit button to complete your form.
| To edit your existing information, go to the My Interests form and click on the I want to edit my existing My Interests form graphic. Make any desired changes and click the Submit button to complete your form.
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This page last updated on 11/23/2009 05:32:48 AM |
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