State small business certification programs

This is the single biggest recent change in state certification, and it invalidates most published guidance on Texas HUB.

Under rules the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts published as effective 12 May 2026, replacing emergency rules effective 2 December 2025, the Historically Underutilized Business program's race, ethnicity and sex-based categories (Black American, Hispanic American, Asian Pacific American, Native American and Woman) have been eliminated. HUB certifications based on those criteria have been revoked unless the business also qualified as service-disabled-veteran-owned.

The program is now branded VetHUB, Veteran Heroes United in Business, and covers service-disabled veterans only. The governing rules are at 34 Texas Administrative Code, Chapter 20, Subchapter D, Division 1.

The residency and qualifying definitions are at 34 TAC 20.282(15) and (16).

Two practical implications. If you held a Texas HUB certification on a race, ethnicity or sex basis, check its current status directly rather than assuming it survives. And if you are a service-disabled veteran-owned business in Texas, your competitive position has improved materially, because the eligible pool has narrowed a great deal.

One further caution: because the underlying multi-category program has been dismantled, the historical statewide HUB percentage goals by procurement category (heavy construction, building construction, special trades, professional services, other services and commodities) should not be assumed to be in force in their old form. Confirm the current goal framework with the Comptroller's office before relying on it in a bid.

California runs two related certifications through the Department of General Services' Office of Small Business and Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Services, universally abbreviated OSDS. Applications go through Cal eProcure.

Small Business certification

The size standard is 100 employees or fewer and $19 million or less in average annual gross receipts over the prior three tax years, biennially adjusted under Government Code 14837(d)(3). Certain categories qualify under a higher gross receipts cap. Check the current DGS standard for your classification. A micro-business is one with $6 million or less in gross receipts, or a manufacturer with 25 or fewer employees.

Owners and officers must be domiciled in California and the principal office must be in California.

DVBE certification

The Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise certification requires a veteran with a service-connected disability of at least 10% who resides in California, at least 51% ownership by disabled veterans (with LLCs required to be wholly owned by disabled veterans) and day-to-day operations controlled by disabled veterans, though the controlling veteran need not be an owner.

What the certifications buy you

• A 5% small business bid preference.
• Statewide participation goals of at least 25% for small business and at least 3% for DVBE of overall annual state contract dollars.
• The CMAS administrative fee is waived for certified small and micro businesses.
• A non-small prime that subcontracts 25% or more to certified small or micro businesses gets a 5% bid preference of its own, which is why California primes actively seek certified subcontractors.
• The SB/DVBE Option, allowing agencies to contract directly with a California-certified DVBE for solicitations above $5,000 with two or more DVBE price quotes, up to $249,999.99 for goods, services and IT, and $484,000 for public works effective 18 March 2026.

The authorities are California Code of Regulations sections 1896 to 1896.2 for small business and 1896.80 to 1896.88 for DVBE, Government Code sections 14837 to 14838, and Military and Veterans Code sections 999 to 999.13.

California does not publish a clear processing-time target or renewal cycle in its main application material. A DVBE service-connected disability renewal statement form exists, implying a periodic renewal. Confirm both with OSDS when you apply and diary the renewal.

New York's Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise program is administered by Empire State Development through its Division of Minority and Women's Business Development, under Executive Law Article 15-A, sections 310 to 317. The program was reauthorized in 2019, effective January 2020.

Eligibility

At least 51% owned, operated and controlled by citizens or permanent resident aliens who are minority and/or women, with ownership that is "real, substantial and continuing." The reauthorization did not change the ownership test.

What the reauthorization did change

• The certification term went from three years to five.
• The personal net worth cap was raised from $3.5 million to $15 million, adjusted annually for inflation. This is the single most important correction to older guidance on New York. A great many published articles still cite the $3.5 million figure.
• The retirement savings exclusion was raised from $500,000 to $750,000.

The higher net worth cap significantly widens eligibility, and businesses that were previously excluded on net worth grounds should reassess.

New York does not publish reciprocity or acceptance of outside certifications, and New York City runs a separate certification program of its own. If you want to bid both state and city work, expect two applications.

Florida's certification office within the Department of Management Services, historically known as the Office of Supplier Diversity, now presents itself publicly as the Office of Supplier Development. The underlying statute at Florida Statutes 287.09451 remains, as does the certification.

Veteran certification in Florida runs under its own statute, the Florida Veteran Business Enterprise Opportunity Act at Florida Statutes 295.187, as a related but distinct program.

Goals are aspirational, not mandatory

This is the important structural point about Florida and it is different from California, New York and Illinois. Section 287.09451 directs the office to define a good faith effort standard that agencies and contractors must demonstrate toward MBE procurement goals, rather than imposing hard set-asides or quotas.

The practical consequence is that a Florida MBE certification is worth less as a competitive lever than a California SB certification with its 5% preference or an Illinois BEP certification against a statutory goal. It still gets you into directories that agencies and primes search, and it costs nothing, but do not expect it to change award outcomes on its own.

Illinois's Business Enterprise Program for Minorities, Females, and Persons with Disabilities is now administered by the Illinois Commission on Equity and Inclusion, having previously sat with Central Management Services. The governing statute is the Business Enterprise Act, commonly cited as 30 ILCS 575.

Eligibility

• At least 51% ownership by a minority, a woman, or a person with a disability, and at least 51% control.
• The owner must be a United States citizen or a lawful permanent resident.
• Annual gross sales under $150,000,000, by far the most generous size cap of the five states covered here.
• Combined ownership across the three classes can satisfy the 51% test even where no single class holds it alone, with the certification category assigned to whichever class holds the largest share. This is an unusual and useful provision.

Cost, timeline and renewal

Certification is free. Processing takes around 60 days after a complete application. Full BEP certification is valid for seven years (the longest term of any program covered here), but requires an annual No Change Affidavit each year rather than a full recertification, with portal reminders at 90, 60 and 30 days before it is due.

That combination is genuinely well designed: a long term with a light annual touch. It is also the source of the most common way Illinois firms lose certification, which is failing to file the affidavit because nobody owns the task.

BE BEP: what reciprocity looks like when a state builds it

Illinois operates a formal reciprocity pathway called Be Enrolled Business Enterprise Certification, or BE BEP. A vendor already certified by one of six partner agencies can obtain BE BEP status in roughly seven business days. The partner agencies are:

• Cook County
• City of Chicago
• Chicago Transit Authority
• Illinois Department of Transportation
• METRA
• PACE

The BE BEP certification mirrors the host agency's certification term and uses a NAICS to NIGP code crosswalk. It expires or suspends automatically if the host agency's certification does.

This is worth studying because it is what real, documented reciprocity looks like: a defined list of recognized certifiers, a stated turnaround, and a clear rule on what happens when the host certification ends. Most states have nothing equivalent, which is why you should never assume a neighboring jurisdiction will accept your certification without finding the written policy.

How to choose

Certify where you sell, not where you might. Each application costs real time, and each certification carries a renewal cycle that will eventually lapse if nobody owns it. Two active certifications in states where you actually bid are worth more than five held passively.

Work through it like this:

1. List the agencies you have bid, or would realistically bid, in the last two years.
2. Pull two or three recent solicitations from each and check whether they carried a certified-firm participation goal, and which certification they named.
3. Certify for the ones that appear. Ignore the rest until they do.
4. Ask two local prime contractors in your trade whether they are actively seeking certified subcontractors. If yes, that is your strongest single indicator that certification will convert.

The trend worth watching

Three of the five states in this guide show movement away from race and sex-based certification within roughly the last year: Texas eliminating those categories outright, Florida quietly renaming its supplier diversity office, and (per guidance published by the Illinois certification agency) the federal DOT DBE program ceasing to consider race or gender as of 3 October 2025. California, New York and Illinois's own programs appear unchanged.

What that means for a business owner deciding where to spend paperwork time is straightforward: check the current rules before you apply, and do not build a multi-year strategy on a program's structure staying the same. Veteran-based certifications look the most stable of the categories at present.

The wider comparison across federal, state and private certifications is in MBE, WBE and DBE certification for government contracts. For program detail, see how to get DBE certified, how to get SDVOSB and veteran-owned certified, HUBZone certification explained, how to get MBE certified and how to get WBE certified. Live state and local solicitations are at open opportunities, and how to respond to an RFP covers the part that actually decides awards.