HUB Certification Purpose:

In order to credit the participation of minority and woman-owned businesses on County procurements towards the County’s MWBE (Minority & Women Business/Enterprise) overall and contract specific goals, the County will require that minority and woman-owned businesses/enterprises are HUB (Historically Underutilized Business) certified through the North Carolina Department of Administration.

The purpose of certification is three-fold:
1) To ensure increased availability of minority and women-owned business enterprises for the MWBE business process.
2) To ensure the integrity of the MWBE business process and that the business process is 
implemented for its intended purpose.
3) To ensure the integrity of the MWBEs participating in County procurements as well as MWBE initiatives and programs established by the County and our Stakeholders.

The County’s Supplier Diversity Team reserves the right to review, accept or reject any MWBE certifications on all County procurements. The Supplier Diversity Team also, under the appropriate circumstances, reserves the right to accept other certifications.

HUB Certification Eligibility:

For a business to be recognized by the County as a certified minority or woman-owned business/enterprise, it is required to be certified under the North Carolina Department of Administration, Historically Underutilized Business certification program or by another certifying agency of the State of North Carolina, such as the North Carolina Department of Transportation (DBE: Disadvantaged Business Enterprise). If a minority business is not certified as a minority or woman-owned business by an approved certification organization at the time of the contract award, the MWBE Management Team will not allow the participation to count towards the MWBE goals.

However, the Supplier Diversity Team will encourage and allow the Contractor to utilize MWBEs during the performance of the contract towards the MWBE participation goals. The Supplier Diversity Team in conjunction with C2 Contractors has created an online platform to help contractors, stakeholders, and internal departments of Durham County to find HUB certified vendors quicker and easier!
If County departmental personnel become aware of any potential change that would affect the achievement of the MWBE commitment, the County’s Departmental MWBE Liaison is responsible to notifying the Supplier Diversity Team within ten (10) days of receipt of this information.

The Statewide Uniform Certification Program (SWUC) was developed for the threefold purpose of streamlining the certification of historically underutilized businesses, provide a set of uniform standards and procedures through which firms could be certified, and provide for a single database that houses information for all firms certified to participate in Statewide Uniform Certification and any local minority business program.

If you are interested in becoming a certified HUB firm, you must first register in the electronic Vendor Portal (eVP): Electronic Vendor Portal | Registration 

• After registration is complete, navigate to the ‘Certifications’ page and select ‘HUB Registration’. You will then be in the HUB Application.
• Fill out the application and submit. Once you have successfully submitted your application, navigate back to the ‘Certifications’ page and select Upload Documents’ to add the necessary documents. 

  •  If you need additional assistance, please visit the Electronic Vendor Portal | Help Desk at 888-211-7440 and select Option 2.

  • If you have any questions about the content of the required documents, please contact the Certifications Intake Line at 984-236-0130 or via email at huboffice.doa@doa.nc.gov

 Registering In The Electronic Vendor Portal (eVP)

eVP Vendor Webinar