Certification for Minority-owned Businesses
DBE certification through city, county or state programs
We’ll begin with an
Eligibility Analysis
Certification Types
Market Opportunities
Business Evaluation
Eligibility Criteria for DBE
The minimum requirements to qualify as a DBE under the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program are:
- Applicants, by a preponderance of evidence, must meets all requirements concerning group membership (or individual disadvantage), business size, ownership, and control as defined in the 49 C.F.R. 26 Subpart D;
- Fifty-one percent (51%) owned, capitalized, and controlled by one or more U.S. Citizens, or a legal resident (green card), who are socially and economically disadvantaged as defined below:
- Social Disadvantage means an individual who is a member of a presumed
group or a woman; - Economic Disadvantage means, in general terms, excluding the primary residence and ownership in the applicant firm, a socially disadvantage individual who does not have a personal net worth in excess of $1.32 million.
- Social Disadvantage means an individual who is a member of a presumed
- Be a for-profit business, located in the United States, independently owned and operated by one or more disadvantaged individuals;
- Annual gross receipts, as defined by SBA regulations 13 CFR 121.402, averaged over previous three years, in excess of $23.98 million;
- The acquisition of fifty-one percent (51%) business ownership by disadvantaged individuals must be real, substantial, on- going, beyond pro forma, as reflected in the entity’s governing and/or ownership documents;
- A disadvantaged individual must hold the highest, executive office, be responsible for managing the firm’s day-to-day business and have a technical experience, in the firm’s primary business activity.