HCD is committed to giving special consideration in all procurement and contract opportunities valued under $250,000 to California certified small business (SB) and Disabled Veterans Business Enterprise (DVBE) vendors.

Eligibility Requirements & Benefits

For a small business (SB) to be eligible for certification, it must meet the following requirements:

• Be independently owned and operated;
• Not dominant in field of operation;
• Principal office located in California;
• Owners (officers, if a corporation) domiciled in California; and,
• Including affiliates, be either,
  • A business with 100 or fewer employees; average annual gross receipts of $15 million or less, over the last three tax years;
  • A manufacturer* with 100 or fewer employees; or,
  • A micro business (MB) – a SB will automatically be designated as a MB, if gross annual receipts are $5,000,000 or less; or the small business is a manufacturer with 25 or fewer employees.

*For Small Business Certification purposes, a manufacturer is a business that is both of the following: Primarily engaged in the chemical or mechanical transformation of raw materials or processed substances into new products. Classified between Codes 31 to 339999, inclusive, of the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) Manual, published by the United States Census Bureau, 2007 edition.

For more information on SB/DVBE Certification Benefits and how to apply/recertify, please visit the Department of General Services SB/DVBE website.

For Disabled Veteran Business Enterprises (DVBE) certification purposes, a "disabled veteran" is:

• A veteran of the U.S. military, naval, or air service;
• The veteran must have a service-connected disability of at least 10 percent or more; and
• The veteran must reside in California.
• The home office must be located in the U.S. (the home office cannot be a branch or subsidiary of a foreign corporation, foreign firm, or other foreign based business).

NOTE: The disabled veteran who manages and controls the business is not required to be an owner of the applicant business.

All existing and all new DVBE applicants must submit to the Office of Small Business and DVBE Services (OSDS) complete copies of the DVBE's federal income tax returns for the previous three years. DVBEs who have been in business for less than three years shall submit the federal tax returns for each year they have been in business.

A DVBE applicant that is not a sole proprietorship and rents equipment to the state must provide the federal income tax returns for each of their disabled veteran owners or your firm will be deemed to be an equipment broker. DVBE limited liability companies must be wholly owned by one or more disabled veterans.

For more information on SB/DVBE Certification Benefits and how to apply/recertify, please visit the Department of General Services SB/DVBE website.

The TACPA economic stimulus preference program was established to stimulate business investment in distressed areas of the state and create job opportunities for Californians for improving the economic vitality of their communities.

Solicitations expected to exceed $100,000.00 will contain the TACPA provision applying workplace and workforce preferences to eligible California-based companies.

An Online Tool is available to check if an address is in a TACPA qualified zone.

HCD will follow directives put out by DGS with regards to the TACPA Program.

The Small Business and DVBE Advocate does not advocate for or against the adoption, amendment, or repeal of any regulation or intervene in any pending investigation or enforcement action.

The new TACPA vendor training video is a self-paced module that vendors can view at their leisure to learn how to navigate the TACPA program and complete the necessary application forms.

The training video can be accessed on the Procurement Division (ca.gov) and Request Target Area Contract Preference (ca.gov) webpages.

For additional information and/or questions regarding TACPA, please contact:
TACPA Program TACPA@dgs.ca.gov.

BB E0623 New Target Area Contract Preference Act TACPA Vendor Training (PDF)

Common commodities acquired by HCD include, but are not limited to:

• Misc. Office Supplies
• IT Software (i.e. software licenses)
• Other IT Goods (i.e. keyboards, mouse, cables)

Common Services acquired by HCD include, but are not limited to:

• Consulting Services
• Maintenance or repair services
• Legal Services
• Financial advisory services
• Graphic services
• Data collection
• Services Software-as-a-Service {SaaS}