A no boycott of Israel certification form is a short document a government vendor signs to confirm the company is not refusing to do business with Israel as a condition of receiving a public contract. To complete and submit one, you confirm the form applies to your bid, enter your legal entity information exactly as it appears on the contract, have an authorized officer sign under the penalty-of-perjury language on the form, and upload or include it with your bid package by the agency’s deadline. Roughly 38 states now require some version of this certification, and a missing or incorrect form will disqualify your bid before anyone reads the substance.
When the Form Is Required
Not every government purchase triggers this paperwork. Most states set a minimum contract value, and many also set a minimum company size. If your contract falls below those thresholds, you can usually skip the form.
Contract-value floors vary. Many states set the threshold at $100,000. A few states set much lower thresholds, some as low as $1,000, and at least one state has used a $50,000 cutoff. A handful of states apply the requirement to contracts of any size.
Employee-count thresholds differ too. Some states exempt companies with fewer than ten full-time employees, others draw the line at five, and some skip the headcount test entirely once the dollar threshold is met. Sole proprietorships are frequently excluded by name.
Because the triggers depend on where the contract originates, check the specific requirements of the issuing agency first. The solicitation, the request for proposals, or the agency’s procurement website will tell you whether the certification applies and which version of the form to use. If you meet both the dollar and employee thresholds, the form is not optional.
Information to Gather Before You Fill It Out
These forms are deliberately simple. Most fit on a single page. Gathering the right information before you sit down saves time and prevents mismatches that delay or reject your bid.
Expect to provide the following:
- Your legal entity name as registered with your state’s Secretary of State, not a trade name or DBA. This has to match the name on the primary contract or purchase order exactly. A mismatch between the certification and the contract is one of the most common reasons bids get kicked back.
- Your principal business address. Some forms break out city, state, and zip on separate lines.
- A vendor or contract number if the agency has assigned one. Pull it from your existing vendor profile with that agency rather than substituting your federal tax ID.
- The name and title of the authorized signer. That person must have legal authority to bind the company, typically an officer, a managing member, or someone holding a board-approved power of attorney.
A few states define “company” broadly enough to include parent companies, subsidiaries, and affiliates. If your organization has that kind of structure, check whether the certification covers only your entity or the entire corporate family. Where the definition sweeps in affiliates, verify that no related entity maintains a policy that would contradict the certification before signing.
What You Are Actually Certifying
The core promise is straightforward: your company is not currently boycotting Israel and will not begin during the life of the contract. State statutes generally define “boycott” as refusing to deal with, ending business relationships with, or taking other commercially punitive action against Israel or entities doing business in Israel, when those actions are motivated by the target’s connection to Israel rather than an ordinary business reason.
The commitment is not a snapshot. It runs for the full duration of the contract, including any renewal periods. If your policies or commercial relationships shift mid-contract in a way that could be characterized as a boycott, you have a compliance problem even though you signed the form in good faith at the outset.
Signing the Form
Most versions require only a signature and a date. No notary stamp, no witnesses. The signer declares that the statements on the form are true, and in many states the form includes language placing that declaration under penalty of perjury. Federal law allows unsworn written declarations signed under penalty of perjury to carry the same weight as a notarized affidavit, so agencies rarely require notarization on top of that language.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S. Code 1746 – Unsworn Declarations Under Penalty of Perjury
Confirm two things internally before signing. First, that the signer actually has authority to bind the company. Signing without authority doesn’t just void the certification, it can unravel the entire contract. Second, that no division, subsidiary, or internal policy contradicts what you are about to certify. Procurement officers take these forms at face value, but if a contradiction surfaces later the consequences land on the company, not the agency.
How and When to Submit
Submission depends on how the issuing agency runs its procurement process. Most agencies now use a centralized electronic portal where you upload the signed form as a PDF alongside the rest of your bid documents. If the agency still handles physical bids, put the signed original inside the sealed bid envelope. A photocopy usually will not satisfy the requirement.
Timing matters. The certification is typically due at the same time as your bid or proposal, not after contract award. Some states require it at the time the written contract is executed rather than at the bidding stage, and a few explicitly state that renewals or extensions do not require a new certification.2Arkansas Department of Transformation and Shared Services. Israel Boycott Restriction Instructions Read the solicitation instructions carefully. A perfect certification submitted a day late does you no good.
Once submitted, the form becomes a permanent part of the contract file. Procurement staff review it as part of bid evaluation, and a missing or incomplete certification can disqualify your submission before the technical merits are considered.
What Happens If You Skip It or Violate It
In several states, a contract executed without the required certification is void by operation of law.3UT County Technical Assistance Service. New Tennessee Law Requires Written Certification that Contractors Will Not Boycott Israel The agency has no obligation to pay for work already performed, and the vendor has no legal basis to enforce the contract’s terms.
If a company signs the certification and later begins boycotting Israel during the contract term, the typical remedy is termination. Some frameworks give the vendor a short window, often 30 days, to come back into compliance before the agency pulls the contract. If the company does not cure the violation within that period, termination proceeds and the vendor may also be barred from future solicitations with that agency.
Federal Anti-Boycott Rules Are a Separate Obligation
State certification forms are not the only anti-boycott requirement your company may face. The federal government runs its own program through the Bureau of Industry and Security’s Office of Antiboycott Compliance, which administers provisions under Part 760 of the Export Administration Regulations.4Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). Office of Antiboycott Compliance The federal rules focus on reporting requests to participate in an unsanctioned foreign boycott rather than requiring an up-front pledge, and they apply to U.S. persons engaged in interstate or foreign commerce whether or not a government contract is involved. Signing a state certification does not satisfy the federal reporting obligation, and vice versa.
Legal Challenges Have Not Erased the Requirement
These state laws have faced First Amendment challenges in federal court with mixed results. Some federal district courts have sided with plaintiffs who argued the certifications amount to compelled political speech. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held in 2022 that one state’s anti-boycott law did not violate the First Amendment, reasoning that the certification regulates commercial conduct rather than protected expression. The Supreme Court declined to hear that case, leaving the split unresolved.
For a vendor, the practical rule is straightforward: unless a court has specifically enjoined the certification requirement in your state, the form is still mandatory for covered contracts. If a law is struck down, the issuing agency will update its solicitation documents to remove the requirement. Until then, refusing to sign means your bid is dead on arrival.