A limited number of local government agencies use the Avisare system to process small and diverse business certifications. Getting certified can give your business a bid preference of anywhere between 5-10% on contracts up to a certain size. Review your city, county, or state's website for more information on bid preferences for their specific certifications. 

The first step in the process is to register your business with Avisare. If you are applying for a specific certification, find that agency's registration link from their website. You can also register for Avisare from the Avisare website. If you are already on the Avisare system, there is no need to register again. 

Once you are registered, navigate to the Certification Center from the left-hand menu.
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There you will find a list of certifications available for you to apply for. Some of the information on the certification applications will be pre-populated from your vendor profile so you will see a completion rate percentage attached to each certification. 

We provide the pre-population of your information as a convenience to you. It does not signify that your business is eligible for those certifications. However, if you know your business qualifies for these certifications, you must click on the "Start application" button to start applying. None of your information will be shared with any certifying body until you fill out all required information and click "Submit."

Your application will automatically save each time you respond to a question. There is no need to click any buttons to save the application.  As you respond, you will see a greed "Saved" with a checkmark next to each response. Responding to questions that are asked on other applications outside of the one you are completing will automatically add those responses to other applications that ask the same question. This means that the more you fill out for one application, the less you have to do for others. This information gets stored on your private profile that is not shared with any other party without your permission. The way you give permission to share information stored on your private profile is by submitting applications or agreeing to specific requests for that information from buying entities.
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It's so easy to forget to fill out a response or miss a question to answer on long forms. Now you don't have to worry about whether you missed any questions. On the left-hand side of the application, you will see your completion percentage for the full application along with a breakdown listing your completion percentage for each section underneath it. 

Clicking on any section will automatically move your screen down to the questions in that section. If you click on "submit" before the completion tracker is at 100%, you will get a big warning sign at the top of your screen which will list the first two questions with missing responses and the number of additional questions that need to be addressed. Clicking on the "Fix it" button will take you down to that question where you can enter a response. 

When your application completion percentage reaches 100 and there is a green checkmark next to each section, you are now ready to submit! Click on the Submit button to see your confirmation of a successful application submission and sit back to wait for the certifying agency to review it. If they have questions, they will send those question to you through the system for you to respond. The process can take some time depending on the agency and the complexity of your application so keep that in mind!
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