As soon as you know you may bid the project. At a minimum, we prefer to receive your request at least 48 business hours before the bid is due.

If you pull plans or begin reviewing a project that requires a bid bond, we recommend submitting your bond request at that time. You do not need to wait until your final bid price is determined.

Simply provide a reasonable ballpark estimate of your anticipated bid amount when submitting the request. This allows our team to begin reviewing the project, obtain any necessary surety underwriting approval, and prepare the bond well in advance of the bid deadline.

As your pricing comes together, you only need to contact us if your anticipated bid amount increases above the estimate originally provided. We can adjust the bond accordingly as the bid date approaches.

Submitting your request early helps us:

• Identify and address any underwriting questions before bid day.
• Obtain surety underwriter approval without a last-minute rush (many underwriters travel for work extensively).
• Have your bid bond ready to go well in advance of bid day, when you're most focused on dialing in your bid.

The takeaway: Don't wait until you have your final number to request your bid bond. Send us the request when you begin considering the project and give us your best initial estimate.

Once your surety program is established, providing the right information upfront helps us process your bond requests as efficiently as possible.

Bid Bonds

Please provide:

• A complete and accurate Bond Request Form (ideally at least 48 business hours before the bid is due)
• The required bid bond form, if a specific form is provided in the bid documents

Performance & Payment Bonds

Please provide:

• A copy of the contract that needs to be bonded
• Bid results, if available
• You do not need to complete a Bond Request Form for Performance & Payment Bond requests

Not sure what a field on our Bond Request Form means? Use the glossary below to understand what information we're requesting, where to find it, and why it matters.

The project-specific information requested on the Bond Request Form should be pulled directly from the project specifications and bid documents. Please review these documents carefully when completing your request rather than relying on memory or assumptions. Accurate information is important because both Catalyst and your surety underwriter rely on the information submitted with the bond request.

Bid Bond

A bond submitted with your bid that provides assurance to the project owner or other party requiring the bond that, if awarded the project, you will enter into the contract and provide the required Performance & Payment Bonds.

Performance & Payment Bond

Bonds typically required after you have been awarded a project. The Performance Bond guarantees your performance of the bonded contract, while the Payment Bond guarantees payment to qualifying subcontractors, suppliers, and laborers associated with the project.

Digital/Emailed Copy or Hard Copy/Original Required

Let us know how the bond must be delivered. Many bid bonds can be provided electronically, while some obligees require an original bond with physical signatures and seals. Review the project requirements carefully to determine what is required.

If hard copies are required, indicate the number of original copies needed.

Specific Bond Form Required
Some project owners provide their own bond form that must be used rather than a standard industry bond form. Review the specifications and all addenda carefully for any required bond forms and include them with your request.

This is particularly important for bid bonds because using an incorrect form could result in your bid being rejected. Required bid bond forms may be identified in the specifications under names such as Bid Bond, Security Bond, or Guaranty Bond.

If the specifications do not require a specific form, Catalyst will use an industry-standard bond form.

Bid Date / Contract Date
For a Bid Bond, enter the date the bid is due.

For a Performance & Payment Bond, enter the date of the contract, if available.

Bid Time
For bid bonds, enter the exact time the bid is due. This helps our team prioritize requests and ensure your bond is completed ahead of the bid deadline.

Obligee Legal Name
The Obligee is the party requiring the bond from you and the entity to whom the bond is issued. This is generally the entity you are bidding to or have a contract with and may be a property owner, general contractor, or construction manager.

Enter the obligee's full legal name exactly as it should appear on the bond.

Obligee's Address
Enter the obligee's complete address, including city, state, and ZIP code.

Bid Estimate / Contract Price
For a Bid Bond, provide your current ballpark estimate of what you expect your bid to be. We do not need your final bid amount before you submit the bond request. Providing an initial estimate allows us to begin processing the request and obtaining any necessary surety approval well before bid time.

If your anticipated bid amount later increases above the estimate you originally provided, simply let us know before the bid and we can adjust accordingly. If your anticipated bid remains at or below the estimate originally provided, there is no need to update us before bid time.

For a Performance & Payment Bond, provide the final contract amount.

Bid Bond Amount (% or $)

Enter the amount of the bid bond required by the project specifications. This is typically expressed as either a percentage of your bid, such as 5% or 10%, or as a specific dollar amount.

Do not assume the required amount. It should be stated in the bid documents.

Legal Project Name
Enter the complete project name exactly as it should appear on the bond.

Be sure to include any identifying project, IFB, bid, solicitation, or similar number when it is part of the project's legal identification. Providing the complete project identification helps prevent a bond from being rejected because the project is incorrectly identified.

IFB # or Project Number

Enter the project's identifying number, if applicable. Depending on the project, this may be called an IFB Number, Project Number, Bid Number, Solicitation Number, Contract Number, or something similar.

This information can typically be found on the invitation to bid, solicitation, or project specifications.

Project Address
Enter the physical location of the project, including city and state. If a precise street address is not provided in the specifications, provide the most specific project location available (city and state at a minimum).

Architect Name & Address

Enter the name and address of the project's architect, if applicable and available in the project documents.

Brief Project Description
Provide a short description of the work you will be performing under the contract.

There is no need to reproduce the entire scope of work. A concise description that gives us and the surety underwriter a clear understanding of the project's general scope is sufficient.

Estimated Start Date
Enter the anticipated date your work on the project will begin. If an exact date has not yet been established, provide your best estimate based on the project schedule.

Current Work on Hand

Enter the total estimated cost to complete on all of your existing open contracts.

This helps the surety evaluate the new project in relation to your company's existing workload and outstanding contractual commitments.

Bond Underwriting Considerations

IMPORTANT NOTE: These aren't just administrative details. They can directly affect underwriting approval and the eventual bond premium.

Please pull the following information directly from the project specifications rather than estimating or assuming the requirements.

Completion Time

Enter the contractual time allowed to complete the project, such as 365 calendar days, rather than simply providing an anticipated completion date.

Completion time is an underwriting and pricing consideration for the surety. Surety companies have standard completion timeframes incorporated into their rates, and longer durations may result in an additional premium surcharge. Providing the correct completion time with your bid bond request allows us to identify any potential surcharge before you submit your bid, rather than after you have been awarded the project.

Warranty Period
Enter the warranty or maintenance period required by the project specifications.

Review this requirement carefully because some specifications contain different warranty periods for different portions of the work. Sureties generally consider one year to be the standard warranty period included in the Performance & Payment Bond premium. Longer warranties, particularly multi-year warranties, may require additional underwriting consideration and may result in additional premium.

Providing this information at the bid stage allows us to identify potential underwriting or pricing issues before you submit your bid.

Liquidated Damages
Enter the per-day dollar amount of liquidated damages stated in the contract documents.

Liquidated damages are amounts that may be contractually assessed if specified project milestones or completion deadlines are missed. Surety underwriters consider the amount of liquidated damages when evaluating a project, particularly when the amount is unusually high relative to the contract.

Providing the requirement at the bid stage gives us an opportunity to address any underwriting concerns before the project is awarded.

Retainage

Enter the retainage percentage required by the contract, such as 5% or 10%.

Retainage is the portion of your earned contract proceeds that the project owner or other contracting party is permitted to withhold until certain contractual requirements are satisfied. Because retainage affects project cash flow, it is an important consideration in the surety's underwriting of the project.

After the Bid: Send Us Your Bid Results
Once bid results are known, please send them to us at bonds@catalystsurety.com.

Even if you weren't the low bidder, we want to know the results. Keeping us informed allows us to keep your surety underwriter up to date on your outstanding bid bonds and overall bidding activity. Until bid results are known, your surety may continue to consider an outstanding bid when evaluating your available bonding capacity.

Please never hesitate to give us a call. Surety is all we do and our team enjoys sharing the wealth of knowledge that makes our agency so effective.