Governor’s Office of Business Initiatives and Development (GO-BID), Tennessee Department of General Services
Service-Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise certification, Governor’s Office of Business Initiatives and Development (SDVBE). GO-BID is the renamed Governor’s Office of Diversity Business Enterprise (Go-DBE) and sits in the Department of General Services under the Central Procurement Office at 312 Rosa L. Parks Ave., 22nd Floor, Nashville, TN 37243. The program director’s line is 615-741-2562; the department’s main number is 615-741-9263. Business liaisons are assigned by sector, including capital projects and higher education. Governor’s Office of Business Initiatives and Development (GO-BID), Tennessee Department of General Services →
20 percent rating required
The owner must have served honorably on active duty with at least a 20 percent service-connected disability, documented by a DD Form 214.
Free and fully online
Certification costs nothing, is processed entirely online, and takes 30 to 45 days once a complete application is submitted.
Tie-breaker, not a percentage
Certified firms get an award advantage on Invitations to Bid in the case of a tie, plus directory listing and agency diversity goals — there is no price preference.
Certification
The SDVBE category
A Service-Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise must be at least 51 percent owned and controlled in the day-to-day operation of the business by a person who served honorably on active duty in the United States armed forces with at least a 20 percent service-connected disability, meaning a disability incurred or aggravated in the line of duty in the active military, naval, or air service. Where a business is owned solely by one service-disabled veteran and that person’s spouse, a 50 percent ownership and control share by the service-disabled veteran is sufficient.
- The owner must present a copy of a DD Form 214.
- The owner must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
- Applicants may only apply for one business status for their entire certification period with GO-BID, so a firm that qualifies as both SDVBE and small business must choose.
Statutory basis
The program rests on T.C.A. §§ 12-3-1101 through 1108, the Tennessee Minority-Owned, Woman-Owned, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned, Business Owned by Persons with Disabilities, and Small Business Procurement and Contracting Act, originally enacted in 2004 and amended in 2012 to establish the office within the Department of General Services under the Central Procurement Office. The statute requires the office to compile and maintain a comprehensive directory of certified diversity businesses, assist them in complying with procurement requirements, review agency bids and proposals, and report annual diversity spending to the Governor and General Assembly.
- GO-BID also cites T.C.A. §§ 12-3-401(b), 12-3-503(c), 12-3-514(g), and Public Chapter 485 in its certification guidelines.
- Annual publications are required by T.C.A. § 12-3-1107(a).
Source: Go-DBE program overview, T.C.A. 12-3-1101 through 1108
The preference
What certification is worth
Tennessee attaches no percentage bid preference to SDVBE certification. The published benefits are free certification, a fully online process, publication in the public directory of certified diversity businesses, visibility to state agencies working to meet diversity goals, corporate and local government partner access, notification of procurement opportunities, subcontracting opportunities, an award advantage on Invitations to Bid in the case of a tie, and one-on-one assistance from GO-BID liaisons.
- The tie-breaker is the only award mechanism with a direct effect on who wins.
- Agency diversity goals operate as internal targets and drive outreach rather than a price adjustment.
- GO-BID also publishes a forecast of acquisition plans so certified firms can see upcoming work early.
Eligibility
General guidelines for every category
The business must be independently owned and operated, must be for-profit and serve a commercially useful function, and must have been in operation for a minimum of two years to qualify. Applicants must submit the majority owner’s most recent federal tax return including all schedules to verify ownership and control, and they carry the burden of proof on eligibility. The majority owner must demonstrate real and substantial control of daily operations and an overall understanding of the managerial, technical, and financial competencies of the industry.
- Businesses must have a residence in Tennessee and be located within Tennessee borders, or provide certification from their home state, or a nationally recognized certification.
- There is no revenue or employee cap on the SDVBE category itself; the $10 million or 99-employee limits belong to the separate Small Business Enterprise category.
- Certified businesses must notify GO-BID of changes in ownership, company name, contact information, or location within ten days.
- Changes to the products or services offered require updating the Edison profile and filing a change request.
Source: GO-BID Certification, eligibility guidelines for all categories
How to apply
Edison first, then the certification application
Register the business in the Edison supplier portal, which is the state’s procurement and payment system. Registration issues a temporary ten-digit number, and after roughly ten days of review a permanent ten-digit Supplier ID. That Supplier ID is required to complete the certification application, which must be submitted online — hard copies are not processed. Once a complete application with all documents is in, certification takes 30 to 45 days.
- Approved applicants receive an approval letter by email with instructions on viewing or printing the certificate.
- Denied applicants may not reapply for three years from the date of denial, but may request reconsideration by emailing the GO-BID business liaison who performed the assessment or site visit within ten days of the denial.
- Recertification is required every three years, with email notice 60 days before expiration; the only exception is the persons-with-disabilities category, which renews annually.
- All recertifications require the most recent federal tax return, and out-of-state businesses must provide an updated copy of the home-state or national certification they relied on initially.
Source: GO-BID Certification, certification process and recertification
Reciprocity
Consistent with applicable law, GO-BID may accept certifications from the U.S. Small Business Administration 8(a) program, minority purchasing councils, airport authorities, a state department of transportation, metro transit authorities or other Uniform Certification Program agencies, the Mid-South Certification Agency, the National Women Business Enterprise Council, local chapters of the National Minority Certification Association, port authorities, clearinghouses, and other state certification programs.
- GO-BID reserves the right to deny certification to any applicant not meeting its guidelines under the cited statutes, so an accepted outside certification is not automatic approval.
- The published reciprocity list does not name the SBA Veteran Small Business Certification, so confirm with GO-BID before relying on a VetCert alone.
Finding opportunities
The certified directory and the bid channels
GO-BID maintains a searchable public directory of certified diversity businesses, including SDVBEs, which state agencies, higher education institutions, contractors, and local governments use to find suppliers. Solicitations themselves are posted through the Central Procurement Office as Invitations to Bid and requests for proposals, and surplus and local government opportunities are listed separately.
- The directory is the practical reason to certify, since it is how primes and agencies build outreach lists.
- GO-BID also shares diversity business partners’ solicitations with its database.
What gets reported wrongly about Tennessee
- The program is still called Go-DBE in most published guides and in some state documents. It is now GO-BID, the Governor’s Office of Business Initiatives and Development, and the old go-dbe web addresses no longer resolve.
- The 20 percent service-connected disability requirement is frequently left out of summaries. A veteran-owned business with a rating below 20 percent, or no rating, cannot certify as an SDVBE in Tennessee, and Tennessee has no plain veteran-owned category.
- Tennessee is sometimes credited with a veteran bid preference. The only award effect is a tie-breaker advantage on Invitations to Bid. Treat the certification as a visibility and subcontracting tool, not a pricing edge.
- The one-status rule catches people out: applicants may apply for only one business status for their entire certification period, so a firm that is both service-disabled veteran-owned and small has to pick the category that gets it more work.
- The two-year operating history and the three-year wait after a denial both bite. Apply only when the ownership, control, and documentation are genuinely in order.
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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