How do you become a dbe

Only an independent business may be certified as a DBE. An independent business is one whose viability does not depend on another firm or firms. The firm must possess the resources equipment, personnel, licenses, financial, bonding, etc. The disadvantaged owners must possess the formal power to control the business and its day-to-day operations.

Any areas of the application that are not applicable must be listed as such on the checklist. Interstate firms will still have to submit the New York State UCP Interstate Certification Affidavit along with a copy of their entire administrative record from their home state.

If you choose to submit the application in a single file, please ensure that such administrative records are well organized by category in the aforementioned checklist, indexed, and paginated. Records that do not comport with these requirements are not acceptable and will be returned to you to be corrected immediately.

Applications not submitted in these formats will be returned without further review. DBE Application Tripwires.

New York State is not a reciprocal state. For more information concerning certification and supportive services, please contact a program specialist at Subscribe to Updates. Toggle navigation Business. The certifier may consider differences in remuneration between the socially and economically disadvantaged owners and other participants in the firm in determining whether to certify a firm as a DBE. In a case where a non-disadvantaged individual formerly controlled the firm, and a socially and economically disadvantaged individual now controls it, the certifier may consider a difference between the remuneration of the former and current controller of the firm as a factor in determining who controls the firm, particularly when the non-disadvantaged individual remains involved with the firm and continues to receive greater compensation than the disadvantaged individual.

In order to be viewed as controlling a firm, a socially and economically disadvantaged owner cannot engage in outside employment or other business interests that conflict with the management of the firm or prevent the individual from devoting sufficient time and attention to the affairs of the firm to control its activities. For example, absentee ownership of a business and part-time work in a full-time firm are not viewed as constituting control. Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph, the certifier must make a judgment about the control the socially and economically disadvantaged owner exercises vis-a-vis other persons involved in the business as the certifier do in other situations, without regard to whether or not the other persons are immediate family members.

In determining whether a firm is controlled by its socially and economically disadvantaged owners, the certifier may consider whether the firm owns equipment necessary to perform its work. However, the certifier must not determine that a firm is not controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals solely because the firm leases, rather than owns, such equipment, where leasing equipment is a normal industry practice and the lease does not involve a relationship with a prime contractor or other party that compromises the independence of the firm.

The certifier must grant certification to a firm only for specific types of work in which the socially and economically disadvantaged owners have the ability to control the firm.

The types of work a firm can perform whether on initial certification or when a new type of work is added must be described in terms of the most specific available NAICS code for that type of work. If the certifier chooses, the certifier may also, in addition to applying the appropriate NAICS code, apply a descriptor from a classification scheme of equivalent detail and specificity.

A correct NAICS code is one that describes, as specifically as possible, the principal goods or services which the firm would provide to DOT recipients. If the certifier Directory does not list types of work for any firm in a manner consistent with this paragraph a 1 , the certifier must update the Directory entry for that firm to meet the requirements of this paragraph a 1 by August 28, The firm bears the burden of providing detailed company information the certifying agency needs to make an appropriate NAICS code designation.

If a firm believes that there is not a NAICS code that fully or clearly describes the type s of work in which it is seeking to be certified as a DBE, the firm may request that the certifying agency, in its certification documentation, supplement the assigned NAICS code s with a clear, specific, and detailed narrative description of the type of work in which the firm is certified.

A certifier is not precluded from changing a certification classification or description if there is a factual basis in the record. However, certifiers must not make after-the-fact statements about the scope of a certification, not supported by evidence in the record of the certification action.

A business operating under a franchise or license agreement may be certified if it meets the standards in this subpart and the franchiser or licenser is not affiliated with the franchisee or licensee. In determining whether affiliation exists, the certifier should generally not consider the restraints relating to standardized quality, advertising, accounting format, and other provisions imposed on the franchisee or licensee by the franchise agreement or license, provided that the franchisee or licensee has the right to profit from its efforts and bears the risk of loss commensurate with ownership.

Alternatively, even though a franchisee or licensee may not be controlled by virtue of such provisions in the franchise agreement or license, affiliation could arise through other means, such as common management or excessive restrictions on the sale or transfer of the franchise interest or license. In order for a partnership to be controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, any nondisadvantaged partners must not have the power, without the specific written concurrence of the socially and economically disadvantaged partner s , to contractually bind the partnership or subject the partnership to contract or tort liability.

The socially and economically disadvantaged individuals controlling a firm may use an employee leasing company. The use of such a company does not preclude the socially and economically disadvantaged individuals from controlling their firm if they continue to maintain an employer-employee relationship with the leased employees.

This includes being responsible for hiring, firing, training, assigning, and otherwise controlling the on-the-job activities of the employees, as well as ultimate responsibility for wage and tax obligations related to the employees. Consideration of whether a firm performs a commercially useful function or is a regular dealer pertains solely to counting toward DBE goals the participation of firms that have already been certified as DBEs.

Except as provided in paragraph of this section, the certifier must not consider commercially useful function issues in any way in making decisions about whether to certify a firm as a DBE.

The certifier may consider, in making certification decisions, whether a firm has exhibited a pattern of conduct indicating its involvement in attempts to evade or subvert the intent or requirements of the DBE program. The certifier must evaluate the eligibility of a firm on the basis of present circumstances. The certifier must not refuse to certify a firm based solely on historical information indicating a lack of ownership or control of the firm by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals at some time in the past, if the firm currently meets the ownership and control standards of this part.

The certifier must not refuse to certify a firm solely on the basis that it is a newly formed firm, has not completed projects or contracts at the time of its application, has not yet realized profits from its activities, or has not demonstrated a potential for success. If the firm meets disadvantaged, size, ownership, and control requirements of this Part, the firm is eligible for certification.

DBE firms and firms seeking DBE certification shall cooperate fully with the certifier requests and DOT requests for information relevant to the certification process. Failure or refusal to provide such information is a ground for a denial or removal of certification. Only firms organized for profit may be eligible DBEs.