Dear American Indian Owned Contractor,

It’s my pleasure to inform you of a ground-breaking Wisconsin Department of Transportation initiative that is focusing specifically on American Indian Contractors.
My department has partnered with The American Indian Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin, The American Indian Construction & Trades Association and The University of Wisconsin Indian Law Center to provide the technical assistance and guidance necessary to help eleven existing American Indian construction firms obtain DBE certification with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE).

While certification certainly does not guarantee success in obtaining WisDOT construction contracts, it does provide a distinct, competitive advantage for firms wishing to bid on WisDOT projects. We feel there are abundant market opportunities available for qualified, reputable American Indian contractors. For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2005, in excess of $68 million were awarded to DBE firms on WisDOT transportation projects.  

While we would like to include every Indian firm in this initiative, funding only allows us to select the eleven most viable candidates to participate. Therefore, the attached application must be completely filled out so that the evaluation and selection committee can perform a thorough evaluation of the applicants. You are certainly welcome to enclose additional documents if so desired. All applications and the information contained therein will be held in the strictest of confidence and no information will be shared or divulged to parties not directly involved with this initiative. If your firm does not wish to submit an application for this initiative, kindly indicate such on the application and return it to my office.

Gwen Carr
4802 Sheboygan Avenue PO Box 7965 Madison, WI 53707 (608) 267-6693 (work)
(608) 216-5258 (cell)
American Indian Construction & Trades Association
10809 West Lincoln Ave. Ste #102
West Allis, WI 53227
414-604-2044       www.aiccw.org          Fax 414-604-2070