USDOT ended the automatic presumption of disadvantage. To stay certified, you must submit a Personal Narrative that proves it with specific facts. KeepMyDBE interviews you, then writes your narrative to the exact standard certifiers apply, using only your own true experiences.
No payment to start. You see your reviewer scorecard and the opening of your draft before you pay anything.
Certifiers aren't judging your writing. They are checking for specific elements the rule requires. Miss one and the whole incident can be disregarded.
Saying your group faces barriers is not enough. The rule requires your own individualized incidents: who, what, when, where.
A loan denial or lost bid by itself doesn't count. You must explain why what sets you apart was the reason.
Every incident needs the type and size of what it cost you. Certifiers may disregard an incident with no stated impact.
In Pennsylvania, 538 of 1,408 certified firms had not submitted a complete reevaluation package as of August 26, 2026, and were set to be delisted. Source: PennDOT DBE Program Update, Aug. 26, 2026.
Pick an experience and tell it in your own words. The interviewer asks one plain follow-up at a time until the incident has everything a certifier looks for. About 10 minutes each.
We organize your answers into a clear first-person narrative in the structure reviewers expect. Nothing is invented. If a detail is missing, the draft says so instead of guessing.
Each requirement is rated strong, adequate, weak, or missing, with the exact fix. Answer the follow-up questions, regenerate, and download when it is ready to sign.
Our review checks nine things, taken from the regulation text and USDOT's own guidance to certifiers.
Sources: 49 CFR 26.67 as revised by 91 FR 60885 (Sept. 25, 2026); USDOT "FAQs on the DBE and ACDBE Program Implementation Modifications" (Sept. 25, 2026).
A consultant-written reevaluation package runs about $2,000 and takes days. Losing certification costs far more than that in work you can no longer be counted for.
| KeepMyDBE | Consultant | On your own | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | $249 | ~$2,000 | Free |
| Time to a draft | About an hour | Days to weeks | Evenings of guessing |
| Checked against the 2026 rule | Every requirement | Depends | No |
| Revisions | Included | Often billed | - |
one time, per owner narrative
No, and you would not want that. The narrative must be true and based on your own life; you sign it. We ask the questions that draw out the details, organize them the way a reviewer needs to see them, and point out what's missing. Every fact in the draft came from you.
Yes. USDOT's guidance says owners may cite specific, individualized incidents of discrimination tied to race or sex. What no longer works is relying on group membership or general statements about how a group is treated. The interview keeps you on the right side of that line.
Run it through the free check to see where it falls short. USDOT also told certifiers they must reconsider narratives rejected because the owner described personal experiences tied to race or sex, or under provisions the final rule corrected. A disqualification in reevaluation can be appealed to USDOT. Check your decision letter for the deadline.
Under the final rule, a firm that hasn't responded gets a written notice of non-response and has until March 24, 2027 to submit its narrative and Personal Net Worth statement before it is disqualified automatically. Your state may have removed you from its public directory in the meantime. Confirm your status and dates with your certifier.
The rule requires your narrative to identify at least one objective basis for your disadvantage: any identifiable status or condition that led others to treat you differently. You describe it in your own words. The interview starts there.
There's no required number, and certifiers are told to weigh quality over quantity. But the narrative should show a pattern rather than one isolated event. Most owners document three to five and the draft uses what you provide.
Your answers are used only to produce your documents. We don't sell or share them, and you can permanently delete everything from your workspace at any time. See the privacy page.
No to both. This is a document-preparation tool. The certifier decides, on the evidence, whether you qualify. What we can do is make sure your true experiences are presented completely and in the form the rule calls for.