Washington Administrative Code

The purpose of this chapter is to effectuate the intent of chapter 39.19 RCW by providing procedures for adjudicative proceedings to review decisions by the office to decertify or deny certification of a business and for the assessment of penalties.[Statutory Authority: RCW 39.19…

(1) The Administrative Procedure Act provides for brief adjudicative proceedings in RCW 34.05.482 through 34.05.494. The office will conduct brief adjudicative proceedings where it does not violate any provision of law and where protection of the public interest does not require …

(1) An application for a brief adjudicative proceeding must be filed within twenty days from the date of service of the office's notice of action. A request for brief adjudication proceeding must set forth in detail the reasons the applicant believes the office's decision to deny…

(1) Initial orders on brief adjudicative proceedings shall become final twenty-one days after service of the initial order unless:(a) A petition for review of an initial order is served by certified mail, registered mail, or personal service upon the office, and copies shall be s…

At the office's discretion or a presiding officer's determination that to protect the public interest or if the interest involved in the controversy warrants the use of more formal hearing procedures, the office or presiding officer can convert a brief adjudicative proceeding to …

(1) The office shall commence a full adjudicative proceeding within ninety days after the determination that the use of more formal hearing procedures is required.(2) A full adjudicative proceeding commences when the office notifies a party that a prehearing conference, hearing, …

The presiding officer in a full adjudicative proceeding is the administrative law judge designated by the office of administrative hearings after notice of hearing is issued by the office.[Statutory Authority: RCW 39.19.030. WSR 11-11-030, § 326-08-018, filed 5/11/11, effective 6…

The provisions of chapter 10-08 WAC, "Model rules of procedure" shall apply to full adjudicative hearings regarding certification or penalties by the office.[Statutory Authority: RCW 39.19.030. WSR 11-11-030, § 326-08-020, filed 5/11/11, effective 6/11/11. Statutory Authority: RC…

An amendment to this chapter applies to cases pending at the time of the adoption of the amendment, unless the amendment or rule-making order says that it does not apply to pending cases. An amendment to this chapter does not require that anything already done be redone to comply…

(1) Any party to a full adjudicative proceeding may participate personally.(2) The owner of the majority interest in a certified business is a necessary party and shall appear on behalf of the business.(3) A former employee of the office shall not, at any time after severing his …

(1) Any party to an adjudicative proceeding may be represented or advised by:(a) An attorney admitted to practice before the Washington state supreme court;(b) Other attorney admitted to practice before the highest court of any other state, if attorneys from Washington state are …

(1) When a full adjudicative proceeding is commenced, the office will issue a notice to all parties and to the office of administrative hearings as provided by RCW 34.05.434.(2) Time. All parties shall be served with notice not less than twenty days before the hearing.(3) The not…

(1) If limited English-speaking or hearing impaired parties or witnesses will be involved in an adjudicative proceeding and need an interpreter, an interpreter will be provided at no cost to the party or witness.(2) If disabled parties or witnesses will be involved in a hearing a…

(1) All notices, pleadings, and other papers filed with the presiding officer shall be served upon all counsel and representatives of record and upon unrepresented parties or upon their agents designated by them or by law.(2) Service shall be made personally or, unless otherwise …

Subpoenas may be issued by the director of the office, the director's designee, the assigned administrative law judge, or an attorney for any party in the adjudicative proceeding as provided in RCW 34.05.446.[Statutory Authority: RCW 39.19.030(7). WSR 92-15-077, § 326-08-080, fil…

Subpoenas may be served in any manner authorized by WAC 326-08-070.[Statutory Authority: RCW 39.19.030(7). WSR 92-15-077, § 326-08-090, filed 7/16/92, effective 8/16/92. Statutory Authority: Chapter 39.19 RCW. WSR 84-09-002 (Order 84-5), § 326-08-090, filed 4/5/84.]

(1) At a hearing held pursuant to WAC 326-08-010, the burden of proof shall be on the applicant to demonstrate that the applicant qualifies for certification under chapter 39.19 RCW and Title 326 WAC.(2) The administrative law judge shall only admit and consider evidence on the i…

(1) Disposition may be made of any adjudicative proceeding by stipulation, consent order, default, or summary judgment.(2) Summary judgment will be considered pursuant to a time schedule set by the administrative law judge and may be decided without oral argument.[Statutory Autho…

(1) If a party fails to attend or participate in a hearing or other stage of an adjudicative proceeding, the administrative law judge may serve upon all parties a default order with a statement of the grounds for the order.(2) Within seven days after service of a default order un…

(1) Within ninety days after the conclusion of a full adjudicative proceeding or after submission of memos, briefs, or proposed findings that the administrative law judge may allow after the adjudicative proceeding, the administrative law judge shall prepare an initial order for …

(1) Any party to a full adjudicative proceeding may file objections to an initial order pursuant to RCW 34.05.464.(2) The objections to the initial order shall be filed with the director within twenty days of the date of service of the initial order. Copies of the objections to t…

(1) An initial order will become final without further action by the office unless, within ninety days of the service of the initial order:(a) The director determines that the initial order should be reviewed; or(b) A party to the adjudicative proceeding files objections to the i…

(1) Within ten days of the service of a final order or when an initial order becomes final, any party may file a petition for reconsideration, stating the specific grounds upon which relief is requested. The petition shall be filed with the office.(2) No petition for reconsiderat…

(1) Any business which meets the definition of a minority business enterprise, a women's business enterprise, a minority woman's business enterprise, a combination minority and women's business enterprise, socially and economically disadvantaged business enterprise, corporate-spo…

(1) After reviewing an applicant's sworn declaration of membership in a presumptively disadvantaged group, the agency may ask the applicant to present additional evidence that the person is a member of the identified group, if the agency has a well-founded reason to question the …

The following guidance is adapted, with minor modifications, from the United States Small Business Administration's regulations concerning social and economic disadvantage determinations (see 13 C.F.R. 124.103(c) and 124.104) and 49 C.F.R. Part 26. Each nonpresumptive socially an…

(1) Evidence of individual social disadvantage must include the following elements:(a) At least one objective distinguishing feature that has contributed to social disadvantage, such as race, ethnic origin, gender, disability, long-term residence in an environment isolated from t…

Evidence of individual social disadvantage and/or individual economic disadvantage must include the following elements:(1) Submission of narrative and financial information.(a) Each individual claiming economic disadvantage must describe the conditions, which are the basis for th…

(1) Social disadvantage. The agency rebuttably presumes the following persons are socially disadvantaged individuals for the purposes of certification, consistent with 49 C.F.R. Section 26.67: Women; persons who are Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, Native American, Asian,…

(1) Each individual owner of a firm applying for state certification, whose ownership and control are relied on for certification, must fill out a personal net worth statement and sign a declaration of eligibility that their personal net worth does not exceed $2,047,000. If any i…

(1) General rule: A socially and economically disadvantaged owner must own at least 51 percent of each class of ownership of the firm. Each socially and economically disadvantaged owner whose ownership is necessary to the firm's eligibility must demonstrate that their ownership s…

An eligible firm must be owned by an individual(s) who is socially and economically disadvantaged, rather than owned by another firm, except as provided below:(1) If a socially and economically disadvantaged individual(s) owns and controls a firm through a parent or holding compa…

(1) When an ownership interest arises in a nonapplicant spouse or registered domestic partner solely because of community property laws, the agency will not disqualify the applicant if both parties certify that:(a) Only the applicant spouse or registered domestic partner particip…

In determining whether the fifty-one percent ownership requirement is met, no stock or ownership held in trust shall be counted, except in the following cases:(1) Where both the trustee and the beneficiary are minorities, or both are women, or both are socially and economically d…

(1) General rules.(a) One or more socially and economically disadvantaged owners of the firm must control it.(b) Control determinations must consider all pertinent facts, viewed together and in context.(c) A firm must have operations in the business for which it seeks certificati…

Only an independent business may be certified. An independent business is one the viability of which does not depend on its relationship with another business or businesses.(1) In determining whether a potential certified business is an independent business, the office must scrut…

(1) A firm owned by a Native American tribe, native Hawaiian organization, or Alaska native corporation, rather than by individuals, may be eligible for certification. Such a firm must meet the size standards of WAC 326-20-096 and be controlled by a socially and economically disa…

(1) To foster small business participation, a race and gender-neutral certification program is created to eliminate obstacles to small business participation.(2) Public works small business is a race and gender-neutral certification program that does not require social disadvanta…

(1) To foster small business participation, and to promote equity in state contracting while further recognizing the protected class status of LGBTQ, an LGBTQBE certification program is created.(2) LGBTQBE certification program will require all other criteria included in state ce…

The office must grant certification to a business only for specific types of work the disadvantaged owner(s) have the ability to control. To become certified in an additional type of work, the business needs to demonstrate its owner(s) are able to control the business with respec…

Whenever issues arise regarding whether a business qualifies as a small business concern which cannot be resolved by reference to these regulations, 49 C.F.R. Part 26 shall provide guidance to resolve such issues.[Statutory Authority: RCW 39.19.030. WSR 04-08-075, § 326-20-098, f…

(1) In addition to meeting the ownership and control requirements of chapter 39.19 RCW, a business must qualify as a small business concern for certification eligibility or certification update.(a) A small business concern is a business that is independently owned and operated, i…

(1) The office will develop and make available an application form for certification under chapter 39.19 RCW, and WAC 326-20-010. The application form may be modified at any time. The form will solicit enough information to determine whether the applicant is eligible for certific…

The office shall charge a nonrefundable fee for certification or recertification based upon the legal organizational structure of the business, as follows: Fifty dollars for a sole proprietorship, $75 for a partnership (general or limited), and $100 for all other legal organizati…

The office will process all applications as promptly as its resources permit. The office does not guarantee that any application will be processed within any certain time period and the inability to process an application by a certain time shall not subject the office or the stat…

The owners shall have the duty to cooperate fully in the office's investigation of the application, including promptly submitting any additional information requested by the office. This duty shall continue after the business is certified. In addition to any other penalties provi…

The office may, whenever it deems necessary, conduct unannounced on-site investigations into the operations of a business. By submitting the certification application form, an applicant agrees that the office may conduct such investigations at any time. On-site reviews may be con…

The applicant has the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the applicant is eligible for certification or renewal of certification.[Statutory Authority: RCW 39.19.030. WSR 17-13-020, § 326-20-160, filed 6/12/17, effective 8/1/17. Statutory Authority: RCW 39.1…

The office shall notify the applicant business of its decision to grant or deny certification promptly after the decision has been made. The decision shall indicate whether the certification is for the state program, a federal program or both. Where the office has denied the appl…

(1) If the office has reached the conclusion that an application for certification should be denied, the office shall notify the applicant in writing of its denial of certification. Within twenty days of receipt of this notification, the applicant may request a brief adjudicative…