The Washington-based Surety & Fidelity Association of America said that 16 small contractors from Mississippi have now completed the organization's course in how to increase and secure insurance bonding capacity.

SFAA said the eight-week educational program is based on its Model Contractor Development Program.

The educational effort, SFAA said, is the result of a Memorandum of Understanding among the Mississippi Development Authority, SFAA and the National Black Chamber of Commerce to establish such a program with the specific purpose of assisting Mississippi minority and small businesses in increasing their bonding capacity.

SFAA said the Mississippi initiative is part a national effort to assist contractors in becoming “bond-ready.” The program culminated in an awards ceremony for the graduating contractors.

Lynn M. Schubert, SFAA president, said: “Nowhere is the need for bonding support more apparent than in the Gulf Coast region. Efforts to reconstruct the damaged infrastructure and rebuild the areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina have the potential to provide unique opportunities for local emerging contractor participation.”

Since its start more than eight years ago, SFAA said the MCDP has provided education about surety bonds; identified resources available for obtaining a first bond; provided assistance and referrals for obtaining appropriate accounting, project management and financing expertise; and directly assisted a number of small contractors in achieving bond readiness.

SFAA explained that the program involves education and bond readiness components.

The educational component offers eight workshops on topics ranging from construction accounting to bonding and insurance to estimating and bidding. These workshops are designed to assist contractors in improving their company's operations, thereby making it easier to obtain surety bonds.

“Now these Mississippi contractors are ready for the bond readiness component,” said Sam Carradine, SFAA's director of diversity and development. “This is where the contractors meet individually with surety bond producers, underwriters and other professionals to talk about the steps their company needs to take to get bonded.”

He said the local agents and underwriters will work with the contractors to complete a bond application and to address any omissions and/or deficiencies that might deter the successful underwriting of a bond.

SFAA said that Mississippi is the first location in the country to complete the educational component of the program. Similar programs are in progress in New Orleans and Chicago, and plans are in place to implement the MCDP in several more locations–including Boston, Philadelphia and Indianapolis–by the end of the year, the organization said.

Special Reports /

Bond Readiness School Sees 16 Graduate

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