NAICS codes are vital to you if your company is applying for Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE), Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE), or Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) certification. The NAICS codes are sometimes also referred to as the primary industry classification. 

NAICS is the North American Industry Classification System, a standardized way for federal agencies to classify businesses. They can be found at https://www.naics.com/search/. 

Attorney Danielle Dietrich writes that, "NAICS codes are used for many purposes, but one of the most important is that the Small Business Administration [SBA] uses them to set size standards for particular businesses to be considered “small” in order to qualify for various small business-related programs."

The SBA has a table of size standards based on the NACIS codes, reflecting the number of employees or gross receipts.

In order to qualify for DBE certification, companies will only be certified from NAICS codes where the disadvantaged owner(s) can prove they control the firm. 

Owners must show they have experience, knowledge, and capabilities to successfully run the business. WBEs and MBEs are also held to the same standards. 

In addition to the above-mentioned certifications, if you are a WBE and are interested in becoming a Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) or Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Business (EDWOSB), federal programs provide other opportunities that are specific to certain NAICS codes only.