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MBE Certification

MBE Certification is conducted by the regional affiliate that supports your business’ home office. With NMSDC’s stamp of approval, your company has access to our national network and greater exposure to major multinational corporations around the world.

To become certified, each applicant goes through a detailed process that determines if the applicant is at least 51% owned, managed and controlled by US citizen(s) and operates an independent for-profit business. We encourage you to register and attend the HMSDC MBE Pre-Certification Workshop that is currently held virtually until further notice; via Microsoft Teams, the 1st Thursday of every month at 11:00 am . At the MBE Pre-Certification Workshop, the certification application is reviewed in detail along with the process and the documentation. Applicants have found that by attending the Pre-Certification workshop, they get through the process quicker and submit completed packets.

How to get started:

Step 1: Review the certification criteria and checklist to ensure that your business qualifies.

Step 2: Collect the required documentation.

Step 3: Complete the application online by clicking here Notarize the declaration, submit the payment, the application and documentation online. The payment information is listed below. For the tutorial document, click here.

Step 4: The applicant will go through a desk audit. The desk audit is a review of the entire application and all supporting documentation. It is also during this stage where we contact your business references.

Step 5: Once the desk audit is complete, the files goes into the site visit stage. The site visit is a personal visit to the applicant’s business to meet with principals and review certain documents to verify ownership, management and control functions. A report of the site visit is prepared and added to the file.

Step 6: Your completed packet will be forwarded to the certification compliance committee in order for them to review and make a recommendation to the Board of Directors for action. The committee can make 1 of 4 recommendations:

  • Approval – Once approved, we invite the applicant to ENTER CHANGE, which is the mandatory MBE orientation where the applicant will receive its welcome letter, certificate and additional information about HMSDC.
  • Approved Pending – The committee had a question or needed clarity on a document. Once received from the applicant, the MBE is approved.
  • Tabled – The committee did not have enough information to approve or deny the file, need clarity on information submitted, and they would like to review the file again once the information has been received.
  • Denial – The applicant did not meet NMSDC’s criteria. The applicant has 30 days to appeal the committee’s recommendation.

Step 7: The Board of Directors review and vote on the committee’s recommendations. All letters are prepared for signature after the vote.

Step 8: All applicants receive a written notification of their status within one week. Firms that are approved is granted certification that is good for 1 year and requires an annual renewal.

Apply Online

Certification Fee Chart

Category Online Amount
Class 1: < $1M $400
Class 2: $1M – $9.99M $650
Class 3: $10M – $49.9M $1,050
Class 4: $50M – above $1,400
Expedited (additional) $350

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact certification@hmsdc.org