For federal transportation contracting and for Small Business Administration progams, it's advantageous to have one's business certified as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise, or DBE. The simplest way of gaining DBE status is for the business to be at least 51% owned by a member of one of the "official" minority groups–Asian American, Black, Hispanic, Native American, or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander–as such businesses are considered to be presumptively disadvantaged so long as they don't exceed certain income thresholds.
But what happens if the government official suspects that the owner who claims minority status is not actually a member of the group he claims membership in? Almost everything I've read on the topic in the academic literature would suggest that the government does not arbitrate disputes over racial identity, and thus must certify based on self-identification.
This, however, is not true.
