10 Things You Should Know About Surety Bonding

Making the right choice to mitigate and manage risk on construction projects and selecting the most fiscally responsible option to ensure timely project completion are imperative to a successful project - and a sound business.

Surety Bonds at Work

Avoid performance and financial issues.  Learn how Surety Bonds enable projects to be completed.

Importance of Surety Bonds in Construction

Learn about the importance of surety bonds in construction.  This brochure covers historical perspective, risky business, types of bonds, financial security and construction assurance, prequalification of the contractor, contractor failure, bond rates and benefits of bonds.

The Miller Act

In the United States, the law requiring contract surety bonds on federal construction projects is known as the Miller Act (40 U.S.C. §§ 3131-3134). The Miller Act is implemented through the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) at 48 CFR Subpart 28.1. This law requires a contractor on a federal project to post two bonds: a performance bond and a labor and material payment bond. A corporate surety company issuing these bonds must be listed as a qualified surety on the Treasury List, which the U.S. Department of the Treasury issues each year.

How to Obtain Surety Bonds:  An Introduction to Contract Surety Bonding For Contractors

Federal, state, and local governments require surety bonds in order to manage risk on construction projects and protect taxpayer dollars. However, surety bonds are not limited to public construction. Many private project owners stipulate bonding requirements on their projects, and prime contractors may require subcontractors to obtain bonds.

In today’s competitive construction environment, a contractor’s ability to obtain surety bonds has a significant effect on that contractor’s ability to acquire work.

Surety Bonds - Common Misconceptions

Learn about the 11 most common misconceptions about Surety Bonds.

Economics of Default

The Economics of a Default on a $1 million NON-bonded Project. Assumes two subcontractors and two material supply companies.

Small and Emerging Contractors

SFAA has a longstanding commitment to assist small and emerging contractors with bonding.  You can find out about our Model Contractor Development Program® on our website and our partnership with the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bonding Education Program.

Electronic Filing Resources

The objective of surety automation is to employ technology to streamline processes, reduce redundancies and increase productivity in the surety bond process, which spans the application for the bond, the execution and submission of the bond and the processing of premium. The objectives of surety automation are realized fully when methodologies involving transmission, security, verification and data integration encourage the broadest participation by surety companies, surety bond producers, contractors, project owners, risk managers and other parties in the bond process. Any methodology should seek to maximize interoperability among disparate systems. Broad participation in surety automation is the vision. Interoperability through open standards and systems is the way to that vision.