SBA Surety Program Notches Best Year in 25 Years, Bonding $2.8B in Contracts to Small Businesses

Agency Announces Top-Performing Surety Partners, Bonding Agencies

WASHINGTON, Nov. 05, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the voice in President Biden’s Cabinet for more than 34 million small businesses nationwide, announced SBA’s Surety Bond Guarantee (SBG) Program notched its best year in 25 years in fiscal year 2024. The agency also announced the year-end’s most active surety companies and agencies.

“Under the Biden-Harris Administration, the SBA’s capital programs have been transformed to reach new highs as we continue to deliver historic levels of support for small businesses – including those benefiting from new contracts and supply chain expansion under the President’s Investing in America Agenda,” said SBA Administrator Guzman. “In alignment with these reforms and performance, our Surety Bond Guarantee Program had its strongest year in a quarter century — a testament to this Administration’s commitment to empowering entrepreneurial opportunity across America.”

“The past fiscal year marks an exceptional milestone, as the Surety Bond Guarantee program enjoyed its best-performing year in 25 years for guaranteeing bid and final bonds,” said Jermaine Perry, director of SBA’s Office of Surety Guarantees (OSG). “This historic progress wouldn’t have been possible without the unwavering dedication of our surety partners and agencies. Their commitment to utilizing the SBA for bonding has been pivotal to the program’s success. As we move into fiscal year 2025, we look forward to continuing our collaboration with these outstanding partners, aiming for further achievements in enhancing surety credit for small businesses.”

In partnership with surety companies and their agents, the SBA’s SBG Program 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 SBA helps small businesses by guaranteeing bid, performance, and payment bonds issued by participating surety companies for contracts and subcontracts up to $9 million. The SBA can guarantee bonds for federal contracts up to $14 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, accommodating contracts up to $500,000 with limited paperwork and approvals in about one day. 

In fiscal year 2024, the SBA guaranteed bid and final bonds totaling more than $9.2 billion in contract value. Over 2,000 small businesses received assistance through SBA’s surety partners and bonding agencies, and more than 46,000 jobs were supported by small businesses receiving SBA bond guarantees. 

The top-performing surety company partners for FY 2024 are: 

1. American Contractors Indemnity Company, Calif.
2. U. S. Specialty Insurance Company, Calif.
3. Merchants Bonding Company, Iowa.
4. Great Midwest Insurance Company, Texas.
5. The Gray Casualty & Surety Company, La.
6. The Ohio Casualty Insurance Company, Pa.
7. Markel Insurance Company, Texas.
8. The Gray Insurance Company, La.
9. Travelers Casualty & Surety Company, Conn.
10. Contractors Bonding and Insurance Company, Wash.

The top-performing bonding agencies for FY 2024 are:  

1. CCI Surety, Inc., Minn.
2. Preferred Bonding & Insurance Services, Calif.
3. Nielson, Hoover and Company, Fla.
4. KOG International, Inc., Pa.
5. The Fedeli Group, Ohio.
6. Capstone Risk Management Insurance, Nev.
7. The Bond Exchange, Inc., N.C.
8. Valley Surety Insurance Agency, Calif.
9. Surety Bond Solutions, LLC, La.
10. Brunswick Companies, Ohio.

The standing of each surety partner and bonding agency was determined by the number of bond guarantees they wrote through the SBG Program.

Learn more about SBA’s surety program. Questions can be sent to OSG Director Jermaine Perry at jermaine.perry@sba.gov or (202) 401-8275.

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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.

CONTACT: Christine Saah Nazer
U.S. Small Business Administration
(202) 756-0304
Christine.saahnazer@sba.gov

Han Nguyen
U.S. Small Business Administration
(202) 756-0304
han.nguyen@sba.gov

Rebecca Galanti
U.S. Small Business Administration
(202) 756-0304
rebecca.galanti@sba.gov