SANDAG’s Bench program creates opportunities for qualified socially and economically disadvantaged businesses to participate in SANDAG’s on-call contracts and fosters collaboration between large and small firms in a fair, competitive manner.
The Bench is a pool of certified socially and economically disadvantaged businesses and certified small business (SB) firms that prime consultants can access for work on SANDAG architecture and engineering (A&E), construction management (CM), and planning on-call contracts. SANDAG encourages prime consultants to use Bench firms when developing a consultant team to work on SANDAG projects.
The Unified Certification Program (UCP)—the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) consortium of DBE certifying partner agencies—is currently in a reevaluation period mandated by the USDOT’s Interim Final Rule (IFR) published in October 2025. During the UCP’s reevaluation period, SANDAG is not setting contract-specific DBE goals.
Bench Firm Qualifications and Certifications
Be one of these types of firms:
- Architecture or engineering firm that can provide one or more of the on-call A&E services
- Construction management firm that can provide one or more of the on-call CM services
- Planning firm that can provide one or more of the on-call planning services
Have one of these certifications:
- Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) certified/reevaluated by the California Unified Certification Program (CUCP)*
- Small Business (SB) certified by the California Department of General Services (DGS)
*CUCPs are in the process of re-certifying all DBEs.
Join the Bench
To join the SANDAG Bench program, please be sure that your firm is registered as a vendor (registration is free) on the SANDAG bidding platform and vendor portal hosted by BidNet Direct. Please follow the BidNet Vendor and Bench Registration Instructions to guide you in the registration process.
A&E Bench
SANDAG executed on-call contracts for A&E design consulting services with an estimated value of $300 million. The A&E on-call contracts provide consultant services for transportation infrastructure projects in San Diego County, including transit system improvements, freeway and bridge enhancements, landscape design, freeway corridors, and other design efforts.
A&E Bench member list
List of on-call A&E prime consultants
CM Bench
SANDAG executed on-call contracts for CM and engineering services with an estimated value of $150 million. These CM on-call contracts support transportation projects that include heavy rail, light rail, bus rapid transit, freeways, highways, toll roads, local streets and roads, bikeways, and walkways.
CM Bench member list
List of on-call CM prime consultants
Planning Bench
SANDAG executed on-call planning services contracts that are estimated up to $40 million. The planning on-call contracts will support transportation planning projects including land use, active transportation, and transportation demand management planning efforts.
Planning Bench member list
List of on-call planning prime consultants
