DBE recertification: what keeps your certification active
DBE certification does not expire on its own, but it is not set-and-forget either. To stay certified you file one thing every year and report certain changes as they happen. Here is what the rule actually requires, in plain language, each point cited to 49 CFR part 26. You file everything yourself.
Under the October 2025 interim final rule, a certified firm must give its certifier a new Declaration of Eligibility (DOE) every year, on the anniversary of its original certification, together with the size documentation the rule specifies, including gross receipts for its most recently completed fiscal year on a cash basis. This is the current form of what many people still call the annual no-change affidavit.
If something changes that affects your continued eligibility, you must notify your certifier within 30 days of it happening, explain the change fully, and include a signed Declaration of Eligibility with the notice. Missing this deadline is treated as a failure to cooperate, which can put your certification at risk.
You must inform the certifier or UCP in writing of any change that affects your ability to meet the size, disadvantaged-status, ownership, or control requirements, or any material change to the information in your application. Changes in management responsibility among members of an LLC are covered, and you attach documentation describing the change in detail.
A certifier cannot simply drop you. To decertify a firm, the certifier carries the burden of proving, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the firm no longer meets the certification standards, and there is a defined notice-and-response process before any removal takes effect.
The annual Declaration of Eligibility is due on the anniversary of your original certification, not on a shared date across firms, so the exact day is personal to your firm. Your certifying UCP will tell you the form and the portal. We do not file for you, and no outcome is guaranteed.
The obligations above are the same everywhere. Where and how you file the annual declaration is set by your state’s Unified Certification Program:
The free pre-screener checks your answers against the DBE rules and tells you where you stand, in about two minutes.