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A 10% Pricing Preference on State Contracts for Service-Disabled Veterans

A business at least 51% owned by service-disabled veterans gets up to a 10% pricing preference on State of Michigan bids, against a 5% share of total state spending. There is no pre-certification — you claim it inside the bid.

Verified August 22, 2026

What this benefit is

A business at least 51% owned by service-disabled veterans gets up to a 10% pricing preference on State of Michigan bids, against a 5% share of total state spending. There is no pre-certification — you claim it inside the bid.

What it's worth: Up to a 10% pricing preference, against a 5% goal across state spending

  • The preference is applied to the contract amount when bids are compared, so a service-disabled veteran-owned bidder can be as much as 10% higher on price and still be the one the state contracts with.
  • What it is worth depends entirely on what you sell and how you bid — a preference is a better chance at a contract, not a payment.
  • Public Act 133 of 2008 sets the goal at 5% of total state expenditures on goods, services and construction. Public Act 91 of 2005, which created the preference, had set it at 3%.

Who is entitled to it

  • You served in the U.S. armed forces.
  • You have a service-connected disability.
  • The discharge was honorable, or general under honorable conditions.
  • Your home is in Michigan.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

Deadline: With each bid; the preference is claimed bid by bid
  1. 1Do not wait to be certified. The state does not pre-certify service-disabled veteran-owned businesses and does not use the federal database — you indicate the status in the bid response itself.
  2. 2Attach three things: proof of service and character of discharge (DD214 or equivalent); proof of the service-connected disability (the DD214 if it was documented at discharge, otherwise a VA Rating Decision letter); and the legal documents establishing ownership.
  3. 3Check the ownership threshold before bidding — the business must be at least 51% owned by one or more veterans with a service-connected disability.
  4. 4A National Veterans Business Development Council certification is accepted as verification of eligibility where its conditions are met, which can save assembling the paperwork each time.
File with
Michigan DTMB, inside your bid response — there is no separate application
Documents you will need
dd214 · va rating decision · business ownership documents
No renewal
Nothing to renew — the documentation goes in with each bid response.
Worth knowingThe gate is service connection, not severity. The definition Michigan uses is a disability incurred or aggravated in the line of duty under 38 USC 101(16) — there is no percentage floor in it, which is a much lower bar than the programme’s name suggests.
CorrectionThere is no state list to get onto. A veteran business owner who spends months chasing a Michigan certification is chasing something DTMB says it does not maintain; the preference lives in the bid response.

Sources

Why only one source type: DTMB states the preference percentage, the goal, the ownership test and the documentation on its own page. The Michigan Legislature’s site refused our requests, so we cite the department that runs the preference rather than the compiled law.

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.