Business resources

A company in Dallas, Fort Worth or Arlington deals with a short list of institutions, each answering one kind of question well and referring every other question elsewhere. Each entry below links to the body's own page, then gives what it is useful for and what it will not do.

The list covers the bodies a company meets when it hires and when it sells to government or to a large private buyer. Formation, tax registration and city permitting have their own offices, named in the sections that deal with those questions.

Registration, and where public work is posted

• Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Statewide Procurement Division

  Useful for

  The Centralized Master Bidders List, which state purchasing entities use to send bids to vendors, and the Electronic State Business Daily, where agencies, universities, cities and counties post solicitations. Reading the daily needs no sign-in. Getting listed carries an annual fee and wants current tax records, both itemized under what has to be in place before a notice appears.

  It will not

  Explain how to answer a solicitation; its own instruction is to read the posting entity's bid documents. It also no longer recognizes certificates from the regional organizations that previously certified firms for the state program, because those agreements expired.

• System for Award Management, run by the U.S. General Services Administration

  Useful for

  The one federal registration. A firm bidding federal work as a prime awardee needs an entity registration, and the Unique Entity ID comes with it.

  It will not

  Say what registering costs. No SAM.gov page consulted for this list states a price either way, so this publication states none. A registration is a record, and holding one has never by itself put work in front of anybody.

The public bodies that help a company hire

• Texas Workforce Commission, and the Local Workforce Development Boards

  Useful for

  Recruiting, training and labor market help delivered locally rather than from Austin. Three boards divide the metroplex and each publishes its own employer services: Workforce Solutions Greater Dallas covers Dallas County from Dallas, Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County covers Tarrant County from Fort Worth, and Workforce Solutions for North Central Texas covers the surrounding counties, Collin, Denton, Ellis, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker and Rockwall among them, from Arlington. The commission itself is the office that decides when paying a wage makes an owner a registered employer.

  It will not

  Cover the metroplex from a single office. The three territories do not overlap and none of them spans it, so a company with sites in more than one county deals with more than one board. Nothing read for this list establishes that every service a board offers is provided at no charge.

The bodies that issue certificates

• U.S. Small Business Administration

  Useful for

  The size standards that decide whether a firm still counts as small in the line of business it is bidding into, and the federal program applications, all filed at certifications.sba.gov. Size is average receipts across the latest five complete fiscal years or average employees across the latest 24 calendar months.

  It will not

  Choose a firm's line of business. A standard attaches to each code, so a firm can be small under one and too large under another. Size is the harder half of the two tests a supplier has to pass. No SBA page consulted here states whether certification carries a fee.

• National Minority Supplier Development Council, with the Dallas Fort Worth Minority Supplier Development Council

  Useful for

  Certification as a minority business enterprise, the credential large corporations ask for by name. Applications and renewals go through the national office rather than the regional council, a certificate runs one year, and renewal opens 90 days before it expires.

  It will not

  Quote a price up front. Fees are set regionally and the national office gives only a range, $270 under $1 million of revenue to $1,700 above $50 million. The Dallas council's agreement with the Comptroller also expired, so its certificate no longer carries recognition from the State of Texas.

• Women's Business Enterprise National Council, with Women's Business Council Southwest

  Useful for

  Certification as a women's business enterprise. The national council sets the standard; its Southwest partner covers north and central Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and New Mexico. A certificate lasts one year, processing generally runs 90 days from a complete application, and the fee runs from $350 under $1 million of revenue to $1,250 at $50 million and above, plus 3 percent on card payments since 1 July 2026.

  It will not

  Serve the whole state from one office. A firm outside the Southwest partner's footprint has to ask the national council which partner holds its territory. Recertification is never automatic.

Buyers large enough to run their own front door

• Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Business Diversity and Development

  Useful for

  A public buyer with its own solicitation platform, its own directory of certified firms, and its own small business definition, which since 7 November 2025 requires a place of business inside a market area of thirteen named North Texas counties. It also keeps a public announcements and tabulations area, where a released solicitation and its eventual result both surface.

  It will not

  Certify anyone. It accepts certificates from the North Central Texas Regional Certification Agency, the Dallas Fort Worth council, which it styles the Dallas Fort Worth Business Council, and Women's Business Council Southwest. Registration on its platform is what triggers a notification, and nothing it publishes describes what happens inside a buying organization before a notice appears.