Washington D.C., Dec. 16, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The U.S. Small Business Administration announced today its most active surety companies and agencies for fiscal year (FY) 2022. The SBA’s Surety Bond Guarantee Program allows small businesses -- especially ones in historically underserved communities – to receive critical backing to compete for major federal, state, and local contracts. In FY 2022, the program facilitated over $2 billion in contracting awards, further contributing to local economies through the creation of more than 3,200 jobs reported.
"The SBA’s Surety Bond Guarantee program ensures more contracting opportunities are made available to America’s small businesses through historic initiatives such as President Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,” said Administrator Guzman. “This program is an important tool for the Biden-Harris Administration to empower more business owners to compete for major contracts, that will increase small business contracting -- a win for small business owners and for our economy.”
In FY 2022, the SBA guaranteed bid and final bonds totaling more than $6.3 billion in contract value. Over 1,600 small businesses received assistance through SBA’s surety partners and bonding agencies. Of the more than $2 billion in bonded contracts awarded to small businesses, over 62 percent of guarantees facilitated through the SBA’s Surety Bond Guarantee program went to underserved small business owners.
"We are honored to work with and recognize our FY 2022 top surety companies and bonding agencies,” said Jermaine B. Perry, Director of the Office of Surety Guarantees. “With their assistance and collaboration, we continue to successfully assist small business contractors in securing federal, state, and private contracts. Thank you to our top performers for making the Surety Bond Guarantee Program one of the most effective public-private partnerships in the Federal government."
“We are pleased to announce our most active Surety partners for this fiscal year,” said Associate Administrator for the SBA Office of Capital Access, Patrick Kelley. “These partners help SBA to directly assist small businesses to open new doors of opportunity, create new jobs, and grow local economies.”
The SBA’s Surety Bond Guarantee Program, in partnership with surety companies and their agents, provides surety bond guarantees for small businesses on federal, state, local, and private projects. The SBA’s surety partners often go above and beyond to help small businesses, providing education on the bonding process, advising small business owners on increasing their bond limits, and connecting them with other important business partners like construction attorneys and CPAs.
The top performing surety company partners for FY 2022:
- American Contractors Indemnity Company, CA
- United States Fire Insurance Company, PA
- U. S. Specialty Insurance Company, CA
- Markel Insurance Company, TX
- Merchants National Bonding, Inc., Iowa
- Travelers Casualty & Surety Company, CT
- Gray Insurance Company, LA
- Contractors Bonding and Insurance Company, WA
- Ohio Casualty Insurance Company, PA
- West Bend Mutual Insurance Company, WI
The top performing bonding agencies for FY 2022:
- CCI Surety, Inc., MN
- Nielson, Hoover and Company, FL
- KOG International, Inc., PA
- Preferred Bonding & Insurance Services, CA
- Valley Surety Insurance Agency, CA
- The Fedeli Group, OH
- Allstar Surety Company, Inc., NC
- Capstone Brokerage, Inc., NV
- R. A. Brunson, Inc., LA
- The Bond Exchange & Insurance Agency, CA
The standing of each surety partner and bonding agency was determined by the number of bond guarantees they wrote through the Surety Bond Guarantee Program. The mission of the SBA’s Office of Surety Guarantees is to provide and manage surety bond guarantees for qualified small and emerging businesses in direct partnership with surety companies and their agents.
The SBA helps small businesses by guaranteeing bid, performance, and payment bonds issued by participating surety companies for contracts and subcontracts up to $6.5 million. The SBA can guarantee bonds for federal contracts up to $10 million if a federal contracting officer certifies that SBA’s guarantee is necessary for the small business to obtain bonding. The SBA also offers a simplified bond guarantee application under its QuickApp, now accommodating contracts up to $500,000, with limited paperwork and approvals within hours.
For questions regarding the program, please visit the program website at www.sba.gov/osg or contact Jermaine Perry at jermaine.perry@sba.gov or (202) 841-8275.
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About the U.S. Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of business ownership. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow or expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.
