The Commonwealth maintains a strong commitment to providing opportunities for small businesses to compete for prime contracting opportunities with the goal of promoting the economic growth and success of small businesses.
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
Businesses interested in participating as a small business in the Small Business Contracting Program must first register to do business with the Commonwealth and self-certify as a “small business.” To self-certify and participate as a Small Business, a business must meet each of the following requirements:
- The business must be a for-profit, United States business.
- The business must be independently owned.
- The business may not be dominant in its field of operation.
- The business may not employ more than 100 full-time equivalent employees.
- The business may not exceed three-year average gross revenues of $38.5 Million, regardless of business type (effective 11/1/2018).
Businesses will be required to upload the first page of the company’s three most recent federal tax returns which are required to verify annual gross revenues. You may redact your federal tax identification number, if desired. Acceptable file formats for tax upload include Portable Document Format (PDF) and Joint Photographic Group (JPG). If a business has not existed for three years, the average gross sales are computed for the period of the business’ existence. For newly formed businesses, the determination is based upon projected gross sales.
Follow the step-by-step process below to complete self-certification as a small business.
STEP 1 – SUPPLIER REGISTRATION
To register as a vendor visit the
PA Supplier Portal and click on Suppler Registration. Not sure if your company is registered? Don’t know your registration number? Call toll free: (877) 435-7363 (option 1), or email
[email protected].
Proceed to Step 2 if you already have a PA Vendor Number.
STEP 2 – SMALL BUSINESS SELF-CERTIFICATION REGISTRATION
Small business self-certification, a two-year certification which requires biannual renewal, is a prerequisite for verification as a Small Diverse Business or Veteran Business Enterprise. Visit
smallbusiness.pa.gov for program guidelines, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), and step-by-step instructions for the self-certification process.
To access the small business application and begin the certification process:
- Have prepared your company’s federal tax returns for the three most recently filed tax years. You will need page 1 of Federal form 1120, 1120S, 1065, OR the Schedule C filed with your Form 1040. If an extension has been filed for the most recently completed tax year, include a copy of the extension. These will be uploaded to the online application in support of your company’s gross sales.
- Go to the PRiSM Portal at
http://bdisbo.prismcompliance.com >
Self-Certify or Recertify as a Small, Diverse, and/or Veteran Business. - Click
Start Application >
Start Application - Enter your company’s Tax ID (without spaces or dashes) and 6-digit Vendor ID which you will find as the first six digits of your certification number on your Small Business certificate.
- Click
Find Me - Click
SB Only if applying as a Small Business or
SB & SDB if applying as a Small and Small Diverse Business or Veteran Business Enterprise (NOTE: You must have a current certification from an approved third-party to apply as SB/SDB and SB/VBE.)
TIP: View our
application guide for additional information to navigate the application and troubleshooting tips.
After completing the self-certification, you can:
