VetCert Renewal: How to Recertify Your SDVOSB or VOSB Before It Expires

This page is for a veteran whose business is VetCert certified and wants to stay that way. VetCert is how the Small Business Administration (SBA) certifies veteran-owned small businesses (VOSB) and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSB). If you're not certified yet, start with the VetCert guide.

The free help in the guide is still there once you're certified. APEX Accelerators offer no-cost guidance on selling to the government.

How long it lasts, and when renewal opens

A VetCert certification runs for 3 years. The rule says:

Any Participant seeking to remain certified must recertify its eligibility every 3 years. There is no limitation on the number of times a business may recertify. Participants may recertify within 90 calendar days prior to the termination of their eligibility period.

The rule calls those 3 years your eligibility period, and SBA calls recertifying renewal.

Renewal opens 90 calendar days before your eligibility period ends. That's the current rule, in force since January 16, 2025. The regulation said 120 calendar days until SBA amended it in a rule published December 17, 2024. SBA's older FAQ pages still say 120. Those pages are superseded.

SBA emails the first renewal notice 90 days before your end date, then more reminders. They go to your firm's business contact in SAM.gov, the System for Award Management, so someone has to read that inbox.

Finding your real end date

Your certification letter states your eligibility period. But the rule lets SBA extend it by up to one year, and SBA has extended end dates more than once.

• In 2023, businesses with an active VA verification on January 1, 2023 got one more year.
• In 2024, SBA said certified VOSBs and SDVOSBs would get another year on August 1, 2024. A business whose date fell on or before July 31, 2024 was told to recertify as soon as possible.
• On May 13, 2025, SBA gave certified VOSBs and SDVOSBs six more months.

SBA said it wouldn't send new letters for the May 2025 extension, and would remove the expiration date field from its Dynamic Small Business Search.

In SBA's example, an August 1, 2025 end date became February 1, 2026. For a business that got the extension, renewal opens 90 calendar days before the new end date, not the date on the letter. The memos don't give a cutoff date, or say what happens to a certification issued after May 13, 2025.

So if your letter is older than any of these, your end date may be later than it shows. Confirm your date with SBA at certifications@sba.gov or 866-SBA-HELP before you count on it.

Where and how you renew

Since November 1, 2025, you renew in MySBA Certifications, SBA's application site. If your business moved there from an older SBA site, such as the VetCert site, SBA's renewal guide says you must complete Business Information first.

1. Create an account and claim your business. You'll enter your Unique Entity Identifier (UEI), your Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code, and your Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN). SBA says a business claimed in an older system must be claimed again here.
2. Complete Business Information. From the dashboard, choose Manage Certifications, then Business Information. Answer the ownership, control and operations questions, then sign and submit.
3. Start the renewal. Choose Manage Certifications again, then Renewal.
4. Answer the eligibility questions. SBA asks if the business still qualifies, and which certifications you're renewing. Only those get renewed. If you leave a program out, SBA's guide says you're prompted to start a voluntary withdrawal from it. Withdrawing from VetCert means SBA decertifies the business.
5. Upload documents if asked.
6. Sign and submit. SBA warns that you can't submit a second renewal.

If your business holds more than one SBA certification, SBA has lined up the dates so you renew all of them once every three years. SBA says it doesn't charge for applying to its programs. SBA's VetCert FAQ points applicants to free business counseling, including at Veterans Business Outreach Centers.

Missing the date

The rule says:

If a concern fails to recertify, SBA will decertify the concern at the end of its eligibility period. However, if a concern is able to recertify its eligibility within 30 days of the end of its eligibility period, SBA will reinstate the concern as a certified VOSB or SDVOSB.

So the certification ends on the end date. It is not a grace period. For the 30 days after that date, you can still renew, and SBA will reinstate the certification. Until you do, the business is decertified. Without a renewal in those 30 days, the decertification stands.

After those 30 days, getting certified again is a new application, not a renewal. A decertified business may apply right away, if it believes it has overcome the reasons and is eligible now. Decertification removes the business's VOSB or SDVOSB designation in SBA's certification database. The business must still perform the contracts it was already awarded.

SBA can also decertify a business on eligibility, such as after a program examination. The rule says that notice will point to the 90 day wait for a declined application. Read what your notice says about applying again.

Appeals

A denial or decertification can be appealed to SBA's Office of Hearings and Appeals within 45 business days of receiving it. The article on a VetCert denial covers the appeal, and what a new application must explain. One exception. A denial or decertification for lack of proof of veteran or service-disabled status is a final VA decision, and it can't be appealed there.

If your VA record is wrong, the guide covers how to correct it.

Reporting changes between renewals

The rule says:

Once certified, a VOSB or SDVOSB must notify SBA of any material changes that could affect its eligibility, within 30 calendar days of any such change, and attest to its continued eligibility.

Material changes include a change in ownership, business structure or control, a bankruptcy filing, and a change in active duty status. The list isn't complete. Failing to report one may lead to decertification, and SBA may seek penalties.

How to report a change

Report it with the Change Request in MySBA Certifications. In SBA's Change Request guide, you choose Manage Certifications from the dashboard and confirm you want to report a change. Then you choose the type: business ownership, business control and operations, legal business structure, acquisition or merger, business details, highest compensation, or outside employment. The guide lists active duty status for VOSBs only. Answer the questions, upload documents if needed, then sign and submit. Several changes can go in one submission.

A change request can lead to a Proposed Decertification Letter. SBA's FAQ says to respond through the Message Center in MySBA. The rule gives you 30 calendar days from receiving that notice to answer in writing and rebut each reason.

Program examinations

SBA can also run a program examination. The rule says:

An examination may be conducted on a random, unannounced basis, or upon receipt of specific and credible information alleging that a Participant did not meet the eligibility requirements in this part when it was certified or no longer meets all of those requirements.

You have to respond to stay certified. If you don't cooperate or provide what's asked, SBA may assume the missing information would show you don't qualify, and decertify on that basis. SBA decides in writing at the end. If you still qualify, your original eligibility period stays as it was.

What to have ready

• An active SAM.gov registration with the right business contact. MySBA Certifications finds your business through SAM.gov when you claim it.
• A current email in your certification profile. The rule counts a notice of proposed decertification as delivered once SBA sends it to an email address in your profile. Your 30 days to respond run from when you receive it.
• Your governing documents, signed and current. SBA's fact sheet lists the same requirements for certification and recertification. Check your operating agreement, bylaws or partnership agreement against the guide's control trap section before you renew, especially if owners, managers or pay have changed.
• Your records for the whole period. The rule requires a certified business to keep the documents that show it qualifies for the entire time it participates.

Both free programs are named, with how to find yours, in the guide's free help section. SBA's own line is 866-SBA-HELP (866-722-4357).

This site teaches how renewal works. It doesn't renew anything for anyone, and nothing here is a promise about what SBA decides.