(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 certification for state-funded projects and may include supplemental questions necessary to determine whether the applicant is eligible for certification for a specific federally funded project. As part of its investigation, the office may require minority, women, and socially and economically disadvantaged owners to provide information in addition to that requested on the application forms.

(2) Where additional information is required from the applicant business to complete the investigation, the office may request the information in writing and may impose a time limit of not more than twenty days in which the applicant must respond. The letter shall include notice to the applicant that, if the applicant fails to provide the information within the time requested, the file will be closed administratively. If all the requested information is not received by the office within the twenty days, the office may administratively close the file. The applicant will be notified in writing that the file has been administratively closed.

(3) Upon timely receipt of a written request for extension of the time to respond to the request for additional information, an extension of time to respond may be granted by the director. A showing of extenuating circumstances may be required, and granting of such request for extension is in the sole discretion of the director.

(4) Administrative closure means that the file is placed in inactive status, and further processing of the application is suspended. An applicant may petition the office for reopening or reactivation of the application file, by written request to the director. Requests to reopen will be granted in the sole discretion of the director. The applicant will be notified in writing of the director's decision to grant or deny the request to reactivate the file. If the request is denied, the applicant may submit a new application: Provided, That an applicant may not file more than one additional application within a year from the date of the closure. If the file is administratively reopened and processing resumed, the application will be processed as if it had been received on the date the request to reopen the file is granted by the director.