Department of Administration, North Carolina Small Business Enterprise Program and Division of Purchase and Contract
The state budget enacted in July 2026 eliminated the Office for Historically Underutilized Businesses and moved the North Carolina Small Business Enterprise Program to the Division of Purchase and Contract. There is no veteran business certifying office. Department of Administration, North Carolina Small Business Enterprise Program and Division of Purchase and Contract →
Veterans are not a statutory category
The statutory list of historically underutilized business groups runs to seven categories and veterans are not among them.
The HUB Office has been eliminated
The state budget enacted in July 2026 eliminated the Office for Historically Underutilized Businesses and moved the small business program to Purchase and Contract.
What is left is size-based
North Carolina Small Business Enterprise certification is race and gender neutral and turns on being headquartered in the state with limited income and headcount.
Certification
No veteran category exists in the statute
North Carolina defines a historically underutilized business as one at least 51 percent owned and controlled by persons in one or more listed groups. The list is closed and veterans are not on it.
- The seven groups are Black, Hispanic, Asian American, American Indian, Female, Disabled, and Disadvantaged.
- Disabled means a person with a disability as defined in G.S. 168-1 or G.S. 168A-3 — a general disability definition, not a service-connected one.
- Disadvantaged means socially and economically disadvantaged as defined in 15 U.S.C. 637.
- An Employee Stock Ownership Plan company qualifies if at least 51 percent of plan participants are members of those groups.
Source: N.C.G.S. 143-128.4, historically underutilized business defined
The remaining certification is the Small Business Enterprise program
The North Carolina Small Business Enterprise program is explicitly race and gender neutral and is designed to provide contracting opportunities to North Carolina small businesses. Eligibility is about size and location, not ownership class, so a service-disabled veteran firm qualifies or not on the same terms as anyone else.
- Headquartered in North Carolina.
- Annual net income no greater than 1.5 million dollars.
- 100 or fewer employees.
- For firms that held HUB certification as of July 7, 2026, the state opened a streamlined confirmation route into Small Business Enterprise certification.
The preference
The state purchasing policy does not mention veterans
North Carolina’s purchasing policy statute commits the state to encouraging and promoting the use of small contractors, minority contractors, physically handicapped contractors and women contractors. Veteran-owned businesses are not included, and the statute creates reporting duties rather than a bid preference.
- Covered entities report annually on what percentage of their contract purchases came from minority-owned, female-owned, disabled-owned and disabled business enterprises and from nonprofit work centers for the blind and severely disabled.
- They also report what percentage of bids came from those businesses.
- No percentage preference, evaluation credit or set-aside for veteran firms appears anywhere in the scheme.
Source: N.C.G.S. 143-48, state policy on small, minority, physically handicapped and women contractors
Other
A disability-based route exists but it is not a veteran route
Because Disabled is one of the statutory categories, a veteran whose disability meets the general definition in G.S. 168-1 or G.S. 168A-3 could historically be certified on that basis rather than as a veteran. That is a disability certification, not a service-disabled veteran certification, and the office that ran it has now been eliminated.
- A VA service-connected rating does not by itself satisfy the North Carolina statutory disability definitions.
- With the HUB Office eliminated, the state has said it is reimagining the Small Business Enterprise program and has invited input from small business owners, so the shape of any successor program is still unsettled.
Source: North Carolina Department of Administration, HUB program eliminated by state budget
Finding opportunities
The electronic Vendor Portal is the single front door
North Carolina publishes solicitations and runs vendor registration and vendor search through the electronic Vendor Portal. With no veteran status to claim, registration and responsiveness are the whole strategy, plus subcontracting to primes on state capital projects.
- The state publishes a list of state capital project coordinators, which is the practical route into construction subcontracting.
- North Carolina Department of Transportation runs its own certification and prequalification outside the Department of Administration scheme.
Source: North Carolina Department of Administration, Division of Purchase and Contract
What gets reported wrongly about North Carolina
- North Carolina is frequently listed as having a HUB program that includes veterans. It never did — the statutory list in G.S. 143-128.4(b) has seven groups and veterans are not one of them.
- The HUB Office itself no longer exists. The state budget enacted in July 2026 eliminated the Office for Historically Underutilized Businesses and moved the Small Business Enterprise Program to the Division of Purchase and Contract. Any guidance telling you to get HUB certified in North Carolina is now obsolete.
- Being a service-disabled veteran does not make you eligible under North Carolina’s Disabled category. That category uses the general state disability definitions in G.S. 168-1 and G.S. 168A-3, not a VA service-connected rating.
- North Carolina Small Business Enterprise certification is the only state certification left, and its tests are headquarters in North Carolina, net income no greater than 1.5 million dollars and 100 or fewer employees. Veteran status is irrelevant to it.
- The program is in flux. The state has said it is reimagining the Small Business Enterprise program, so check the Department of Administration directly rather than relying on anything written before mid-2026.
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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