The Surety & Fidelity Association of America (SFAA) understands that an important aspect of surety market development and a major strategy in promoting the advantage of surety bonds over alternative products is the effort to increase availability of surety bonds to those small, minority and women contractors who currently might have difficulty qualifying for bonds or obtaining the size bonds they desire. The Model Contractor Development Program® (MCDP®) is a dual strategy of this effort and involves working with producers and underwriters to make bonds more available and, at the same time, working with these small and emerging contractors to make them more bondable. For example, under the program, local surety associations (LSAs) are being encouraged to meet and develop activities and initiatives that increase bond awareness and availability for women, minorities and other small contractors. Some LSAs have established both formal and informal programs of information, outreach and support. In addition, SFAA has entered into several partnerships with state and local governmental jurisdictions, trade associations, and non-profit organizations around the country that utilize the MCDP® as a model in designing and implementing contractor development, bond education and bonding assistance programs in their locales.
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