Web Exclusive Content

PanchenkoVladimir/Shutterstock.com What faces our industry is a period of great opportunity balanced with some real concerns. In the recent Associated General Contractors of America labor results, each state varies with construction labor growth, but, overall, most are troubled by the decline in available, qualified labor in the construction industry. Most construction organizations can attest to that. The work programs have ...

Ktasimar/Shutterstock.com By Toby Miclette I heard a story recently about a public owner in the state of Texas using a security bond in an attempt to force a general contractor (GC) into executing a guaranteed maximum price (GMP) contract amendment at a price no greater than the Initial GMP (IGMP), even though there had been scope changes subsequent to establishing ...

By Martha Perkins Surety bonds guarantee capital, of course; but they also bring with them the expertise of the surety and reputational benefits to the contractors and construction projects that use them. But contractors who benefit from surety bonds should keep in mind they are subject to indemnity agreements that will bite if they fail to fulfill their end of the ...

By Eugene Polyak Changes in the work are common on construction projects. But not all changes are handled in strict accordance with the contract’s changes clause. For contractors, it is essential to be paid for the extra work caused by changes. This can become a problem if the change has not been expressly authorized by the owner or the owner’s ...

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 ...