The Washington State Department of Enterprise Services is committed to increasing opportunities for Washington State Certified small, minority-, women- and veteran-owned businesses.

Inclusion plans are designed to help increase small, women-, minority-, and veteran-owned business participation in Enterprise Services public works contracting.

Inclusion plans are required for Enterprise Services public works contracts valued at $1 million or more. For these contracts, the prime contractor identifies subcontracting opportunities and sets voluntary goals to include small and diverse businesses.

Project managers at Enterprise Services provide information and support to contractors as they work to meet or exceed inclusion plan goals including:

• Providing a template to assist prime contractors in identifying subcontracting opportunities for small, women-, minority-, and veteran-owned business
• Helping prime contractors identify possible subcontractors with information from the Washington Electronic Business Solution (WEBS). WEBS is an online system that helps agencies and vendors connect, and that also contains information on which businesses are certified as small, women-, minority- and/or veteran-owned.
• Providing information on other resources, such as the Office of Minority and Women’s Business Enterprises and the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs.

Supporting prime contractors as they work toward their inclusion plan goals – and learning from them as they share their strategies – is an important aspect of establishing a community of practice that supports business diversity in state contracting. A community of practice brings durable and sustainable results because it ensures business diversity is:

• Part of our culture
• A recognized priority
• Fully supported through planning, practice, policy and education/training
• Always going to be part of our future, in part thanks to a focus on continuous improvement and information sharing

Tracking small business participation

Starting July 1, 2026, DES will use Public Works Small Business Enterprise (PWSBE) certification to track small business participation on DES public works projects.

Businesses can still participate on projects if they are not certified. However, only businesses certified as PWSBE will be counted toward small business participation goals.

Certification is free.

Why it matters:

Inclusion goals communicate the State’s and DES’s strategic objectives for small business participation on public works projects. and help agencies meet statewide small business participation expectations.

Using PWSBE certification provides a consistent way to identify and track small businesses working on projects.

Next steps:

• If you are a small business, apply for certification. If you are already certified with OMWBE, you can opt in for PWSBE certification. It’s quick and easy.
• Encourage subcontractors to get certified.

Learn more and get certified

Types of contracts with inclusion plans

Enterprise Services began requiring inclusion plans in June 2013 for the following types of contracts:

• Job-order-contracting
• General-contractor /construction-manager
• Architectural / engineer consultant / design firm selection
• Design-build contracting
• Design-bid-build construction method

In the design-bid-build construction method, design firms submit proposals, and one is selected to complete design work. Following that, the state solicits bids from general contractors. The lowest responsive, responsible bidder is contracted to perform the construction.
With design build contracting, design firms and general contractors pair up and bid as teams for projects.

Contracts with inclusion plans

For more information, see our list of previous and current projects and contracts with inclusion plans. Some projects have multiple contracts, and each contract may have a different inclusion plan.