Get your business certified

Our mission is to create equal opportunities for businesses of all kinds in Boston.  After your business is certified with our office, we’ll include you in any outreach efforts we make for City projects. We can also connect you to resources offered inside and outside of the City.

You can apply for certification as:

• a small or local business
• a minority-owned business
• a woman-owned business, or
• a veteran-owned small business you must be certified by the US Department of Veteran Affairs).

Are you already certified as a woman- (WBE) or minority-owned business (MBE) with the Supplier Diversity Office (SDO) for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts? If you would like to expedite your certification with the City of Boston, please fill out our Cross Certification Form.

Print out and complete the certification application. You can see the definitions of each business type on page 8 of the application.

Certification application

You'll need to include other documents with your application, including:

• a copy of your federal tax return from last year
• a copy of your current financial statement
• proof of your lease or property ownership
• five canceled checks written for your business, and
• current resumes for your company’s principal stakeholders.

You may need more documents depending on the type of business you own. Please read the guidelines on the application for more details.

On your application, you will need to enter codes in three different fields for your business:

• The North American Industry Classification Code, which depends on what types of goods or services you offer. You can pick up to three codes.
• The Category List Index Code, which also describes the services you offer. You can have up to three codes.
• The Commodity Code, which describes the types of products you sell. You can pick up to five codes.

View the list of codes and descriptions