Links

Industry

• National Association of Surety Bond Producers
  The NASBP is a national trade association whose membership includes firms employing licensed surety bond producers placing bid, performance, and payment bonds throughout the U.S. and its territories. NASBP members, known as bond producers or surety agents, play a vital role as advisors and as educators of contractors to help them meet underwriting requirements for surety credit. A directory of NASBP bond producers can be found here.

• Surety & Fidelity Association of America
  The SFAA (formerly known as The Surety Association of America) is a trade association consisting of companies that collectively write the majority of surety and fidelity bonds in the U.S. Its “Bond Obligee’s Guide” of surety companies’ contact information that obligees can use to contact a surety to authenticate a surety bond can be found here.

• Surety Information Office (SIO)
  This site provides free information about the benefits of contract and other forms of surety bonding in private and public construction. SIO, a virtual office, is supported by the National Association of Surety Bond Producers (NASBP) and the Surety & Fidelity Association of America (SFAA).

Government

• Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)
  This site provides the FAR provisions, which govern the acquisition process by which U.S. government agencies acquire or purchase supplies. When issuing a solicitation, a government agency will specify the FAR provisions of which an offeror must comply to be awarded a contract.
• Federal Business Opportunities
  This site, also known as FedBizOpps, is where government buyers (agencies) post and publicize their business opportunities for vendors. Small and emerging contractors (vendors) seeking federal work can search, monitor, and retrieve opportunities solicited by the federal contracting community at this site, which is in essence a database of federal government contracting opportunities including notices of proposed government procurement actions and contract awards.
• U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Surety Guarantees
  This SBA Office guarantees bid, performance and payment bonds issued by surety companies. This federal guarantee encourages surety companies to bond small businesses who are having difficulty obtaining bonding on their own.
• U.S. Small Business Administration Small Business Loans
  The SBA can help facilitate a loan with a third party lender, guarantee a bond, or help find venture capital. SBA sets the guidelines for loans, which are then made by its partners (lenders, community development organizations, and micro-lending institutions). The SBA guarantees that these loans will be repaid, thus eliminating some of the risk to the lending partners. When a business applies for an SBA loan, it is actually applying for a commercial loan, structured according to SBA requirements with an SBA guaranty.
• U.S. Small Business Administration Contracting Support for Small Businesses
  The SBA offers several tools to help small businesses build their potential to successfully compete in the federal sector.
• The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU)
  The OSDBU is responsible for ensuring that small businesses have an opportunity to compete and be selected for a fair amount of the agency’s contracting and subcontracting dollars. Some OSDBU programs address disadvantage business enterprises, financial assistance, short-term lending, and procurement assistance.
• U.S. DOT OSDBU Local Resources Near You
  The U.S. DOT Small Business Transportation Resource Centers (SBTRCs) provide business counseling that includes market research, certification, procurement and technical assistance. SBTRCs also administer the U.S. DOT Bonding Education Program (BEP), Short Term Lending Program (STLP) and Women In Transportation Initiative (WITI).

Other

• SCORE
  This nonprofit offers small businesses expert business counseling, education, and mentorship and is supported by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and volunteers. SCORE has 364 chapters throughout the U.S.