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We updated enrollment requirements for Direct Bill (DB) partners. The goal of these requirements is to help you accelerate your business growth with the right CSP model and strengthen your customer relationships with value-added services and support. Eligibility requirements are assessed against all new DB applicants and on an annual basis.
Important
If you have questions about authorization requirements the Technical Presales and Deployment (TPD) team can help by:
- Advising on the most appropriate CSP model and partner tenant architecture
- Answering authorization requirement questions and risk scenarios
- Guiding the design of secure customer tenancies, including best‑practice access and administration models
New direct bill eligibility requirements
Before you begin enrollment, make sure your organization meets all eligibility requirements. The table below outlines the minimum criteria to apply as a Direct Bill partner for FY26. Review and validate each requirement in Partner Center by following the steps provided.
If you're already authorized as a Direct Bill partner in one region and you want to enroll in a new region, you aren't automatically approved for authorization in that new region. You must complete all of the application, assessment, enrollment, business verification, and credit approval steps for onboarding the new regional tenant.
| FY26 Direct Bill Authorization | Where you can validate this information in Partner Center |
|---|---|
| An active Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program (MAICPP) account in the CSP region, and an active, signed MAICPP Agreement on file. | Validate that the MAICPP agreement is Active and Signed for the specific CSP tenant (PLA) under Partner Center > Legal Agreements, and confirm the tenant and CSP region alignment under Account Settings > Legal Info. |
| Minimum trailing 12-month (TTM) revenue requirement $1 million as a reseller at Partner Global Account (PGA) level | TTM revenue can be downloaded through revenue reports in the Downloads hub in Partner Center. Distributors and Direct Bill partners can download the Reseller performance and CSP Revenue Details reports, respectively, to track their revenue progress. TTM revenue is calculated at the Partner Global Account (PGA) level for all Direct Bill tenants under a PGA. |
| Confirmation of an active Microsoft support plan (ASfP or PSfP) at the Partner Global Account (PGA) level. | Navigate to Partner Center, select Support, and then choose Support plans to view the details of your existing support plan. Support plans are evaluated at the PGA level. If any Partner Location Account (PLA) under the PGA has an active support plan, the support plan requirement is considered met for the PGA. Important: Only purchase a support plan after enrollment has successfully completed the credit approval step. You'll receive an email confirmation once the credit check is approved. After receiving this confirmation, you can purchase the support plan as the final requirement before accepting the Microsoft Partner Agreement (MPA) to activate your Direct Bill tenant. |
| Requirement (Tenant‑Level): Transacting as a CSP Indirect Reseller for a minimum of 12 months at the tenant level before applying. | You can validate the applicable tenant and MAICPP status in Legal Info in Partner Center. The 12‑month duration is measured from the tenant’s CSP onboarding date and validated by Microsoft. |
| At least one Solutions Partner designation attainment | You can track progress toward attaining any Solutions Partner designation on the Solutions Partner dashboard in Partner Center. |
| Meet the mandatory Partner Center security requirements for all production tenants under the PGA. | Partners can validate their compliance with the mandatory security requirements in the Security workspace |
| A passing score on the CSP Direct Bill partner capabilities assessment | The capabilities assessment verifies - before authorization is granted - that a partner has the operational, security, compliance, and support maturity required to transact on Microsoft’s behalf in CSP. |
| Partner business authorization | When you enroll in a new program in Partner Center or change legal details in your profile, Microsoft verifies the information that you provide. You can go to Legal Info in Partner Center to monitor the verification status. |
| Credit approval executed by Global Treasury and Financial Services (GTFS) | Review the GTFS credit approval process located here. The view the partners credit status in Partner Center navigate to Billing and choose Credit and Payments to see your credit details. |
| Acceptance of the CSP Direct Bill Microsoft Partner Agreement (MPA) for the specific CSP tenant | To validate that the MPA has been accepted for the applicable CSP tenant, go to Partner Center > Account Settings > Legal Agreements. Review the list of agreements and confirm that the CSP Direct Bill MPA is marked as Accepted for the tenant, including the agreement version and acceptance date. |
Annual Authorization Enforcement
The Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program empowers partners to act as trusted advisors, helping customers accelerate AI transformation through value-added services and guidance. To maintain a capable and compliant partner ecosystem, Microsoft introduced new CSP authorization requirements effective Partners must meet the criteria to qualify for both enrollment and to maintain their status in the program.
A partner is subject to CSP authorization enforcement on the anniversary of their earliest CSP onboarding month. Following is an overview of how a partner’s onboard month is determined for a Direct Bill partner.
- For partners with a single Partner Global Account (PGA) in a single CSP market region, the CSP onboard month for that PGA tenant within that region determines the CSP authorization enforcement month.
- For partners with multiple Partner Global Accounts (PGA) in a single CSP market region, the earliest CSP onboard month across all PGA tenants within that region determines the CSP authorization enforcement month.
- For partners with multiple Partner Global Accounts (PGA) across multiple CSP market regions, the earliest CSP onboard month across all PGA tenants within a region determines the CSP authorization enforcement month for that region.
The onboard anniversary month isn't yet visible in Partner Center. To determine your organization’s anniversary month, contact Partner Center Support for assistance. Microsoft is actively working to add this functionality to Partner Center to provide improved clarity and transparency for all partners.
At risk of not meeting authorization requirements
Microsoft sends notification emails to an organization’s Global Admins and Billing Admins from microsoft-noreply@microsoft.com where the organization doesn't meet CSP authorization eligibility requirements and action is required. Notifications begin at T 90 (90 days before the organization’s earliest CSP anniversary month) and might be sent in each subsequent month the organization remains non qualified.
Eligibility is evaluated monthly, and each evaluation is independent of prior months. Notifications are sent at approximately T 90, T 60, and T 30. Receipt of one notification doesn't guarantee receipt of subsequent notifications. Notifications are sent only for months in which the organization is non qualified. If eligibility is met for a given month, no notification is sent. Notifications can resume in later months if the organization again becomes non-qualified.
Important
To ensure the right contacts receive courtesy notifications, partners should regularly review and update their Global Admin and Billing Admin assignments in Partner Center.
If any authorization requirements remain unmet on the anniversary of your CSP onboard month (T 0), you'll receive an email from microsoft-noreply@microsoft.com informing your organization that you have 30 days to resolve one or more outstanding issues.
Failed authorization requirements
If you don't meet the authorization requirements within 30 days after the anniversary of your CSP onboard month (T+30), deauthorization proceedings will begin. At that point, you'll be required to support the transition of your customers’ subscriptions to another partner. Detailed steps for this process by authorization type can be found here.
Passed authorization requirements
If your organization passes or resolves the at-risk authorization requirements you're considered compliant through the remainder of the cycle. The next eligibility requirements assessment will take place during the anniversary of your organization's earliest onboarding month, in the following year.