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By Cara Benningfield The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was signed into law on December 22, 2017. The employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) community had been closely watching the tax reform process for any potential effects on ESOP-owned companies. This article will highlight some of the significant provisions included in the final law that will affect these companies. S Corporation ...

Federal government contractors, especially those who do business with the Department of Defense (DoD), should expect cybersecurity to continue to be an area of great concern to the federal government. On November 4, 2010, President Obama issued Executive Order 13556, Controlled Unclassified Information. The purpose of the executive order was to establish a uniform program for the federal executive agencies ...

By Kathy Hoffman On Dec. 5, 2017, Bill 142 passed unanimously in the Ontario Legislature, requiring public construction work to be protected by performance and payment bonds. The bill, which was fully supported by the Surety Association of Canada and other industry stakeholders, serves to modernize payment protocols in Ontario’s Construction Lien Act. “We’ve just been successful in introducing mandatory ...

By Martha Perkins Whether you are a bond producer, owner, contractor, or subcontractor, success in the construction industry is largely an exercise in risk management—and construction contracts serve as a powerful tool to allocate those risks across parties. That is why it is so important to understand their intricacies. We asked Scott Walters, an attorney at the law firm of Smith, ...

  By Michael C. Zisa and Susan Elliott Two recent decisions from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and the United States Court of Federal Claims highlight that sureties and bond producers are not immune to the potentially severe consequences of the False Claims Act (“FCA”) and related federal fraud statutes. In each case, the Court ...

The National Association of Surety Bond Producers (NASBP) is celebrating its 75th Anniversary in 2017. To illustrate the Association’s history while looking toward the future, NASBP produced a series of exciting communication pieces to share with the NASBP membership—including a commemorative brochure, an illuminated six-panel historical exhibit, and a special anniversary edition of Surety Bond Quarterly magazine. Attendees at the NASBP 2017 Annual ...

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) recently released the 2017 edition of its key agreements in the A201 family of documents. These design-bid-build agreements, updated every ten years to reflect the evolving construction industry, are universally seen as an industry standard and have crucial implications for surety bond professionals. “The 2017 release included several revisions to AIA’s flagship document, the ...

Your digital edition of the NASBP 75th Anniversary Commemorative Brochure is available now.

By Mark McCallum As NASBP celebrates its 75th Anniversary, its Government Relations team remains focused on effecting positive change for the NASBP membership. Adapting to a changing political environment has always required a strategic government relations agenda—and NASBP continues to rise to the call. Infrastructure “There is a great deal of energy on Capitol Hill right now in terms of ...

Massachusetts Supreme Court’s Decision Sets New Standard for CMs’ Responsibility for Design The following article is an update on the Coghlin vs. Gilbane case. Michael C. Zisa, Esq. and Warren E. Friedman, Esq. of the law firm of Peckar & Abramson, P.C. describe how the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s decision creates a new standard governing the Spearin Doctrine and an ...