Last week, the Third Circuit issued a decision that could have major ramifications for sentencing in federal fraud cases. United States v. Nagle dealt with a fraud perpetrated against the Department of Transportation’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (“DBE”) program. The DBE program requires states that receive federal transportation funds to set goals for the awarding of construction contracts to certified DBEs. To receive DBE certification, a firm must be a small business that is majority owned and controlled by women or minority group members. In Nagle, a Third Circuit panel addressed the calculation of loss amount under the United States Sentencing Guidelines, where a firm fraudulently has held itself out as a DBE to win a state contract, but then in fact performs the contracted work.