Department of Administrative Services, Bureau of Purchase and Property
The Bureau of Purchase and Property runs vendor registration and competitive bidding for state agencies. There is no veteran business certifying office in New Hampshire state government, and the Bureau publishes its current contact numbers on its own procurement contacts page. Department of Administrative Services, Bureau of Purchase and Property →
No certification
New Hampshire state government operates no veteran-owned or service-disabled veteran-owned business certification for procurement.
No ownership-based preference
RSA 21-I:11 contains no preference, goal or set-aside for veteran-owned, service-disabled veteran-owned, small, minority or in-state businesses.
Only a materials requirement
The closest thing to a preference in the section is a domestic iron and steel requirement on state-funded building or works contracts of 1,000,000 dollars or more.
Certification
Nothing in the purchasing statute creates a vendor status
New Hampshire’s purchasing authority is written around economy and competitive bidding, not around classes of vendor. The statute contains no references to business ownership, size or location as bidder criteria, so there is no veteran category to be certified into.
- New Hampshire does operate a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program through the Department of Transportation, but that is a federal program with federal eligibility rules and no veteran category.
- Vendor registration with the Bureau of Purchase and Property is open to all suppliers and confers no socioeconomic designation.
The preference
There is none, and the statute shows why
RSA 21-I:11 requires that purchases be made in the quantities and manner most economical, requires competitive bidding before any state purchase, and sets approval thresholds for purchases made without bidding. It creates no general bidder preference and no socioeconomic preference.
- Competitive bidding is required before making any purchase for the state, with exceptions for low-value purchases, single-source items, fixed-price items and governor-declared emergencies.
- Except where competitive bidding has been used, no purchase involving an expenditure of more than 10,000 dollars may be made without the commissioner’s written approval, after the director explains the reasons in writing.
- The domestic iron and steel requirement in subsection III(a) applies to state-funded public building or works contracts of 1,000,000 dollars or more and concerns where materials are fabricated, not who owns the bidder. Waivers are available under III(c).
Source: RSA 21-I:11, competitive bidding and the domestic steel requirement
Finding opportunities
Register, then watch the bid postings
With nothing to claim, a service-disabled veteran firm competes in New Hampshire on the same terms as every other bidder. Vendor registration and attention to postings are the whole strategy.
- The Bureau of Purchase and Property publishes bids and contracts and runs online vendor registration.
- Agency-specific procurements, including those of the Department of Military Affairs and Veterans Services, are posted through the same state procurement system and carry no veteran preference.
What gets reported wrongly about New Hampshire
- New Hampshire appears in some national tables as a veteran preference state. RSA 21-I:11, the section that actually governs state purchasing, creates no preference based on business ownership of any kind.
- New Hampshire does recognize veteran-friendly employers through a program run by the Department of Military Affairs and Veterans Services. That recognizes employment practices, not veteran ownership, and it carries no contracting preference — do not treat it as a certification.
- New Hampshire’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program is federally driven and has no veteran category, so service-disabled veteran status will not make you DBE-eligible there.
- Holding federal SDVOSB certification gives you nothing in New Hampshire state procurement.
Every figure on this page links to the source it came from. Verified October 24, 2026. Procurement rules change — check the source before you rely on a number.
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