BEAD Program Surety Bond Information Kit
The National Association of Surety Bond Producers (NASBP) and The Surety & Fidelity Association of America (SFAA) have prepared the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program Surety Bond Information Kit, including bond forms.
The kit addresses the announcement by the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA) to allow surety bonds as an alternative form of security to letters of credit (LOC) for the BEAD Program.
Why It Matters
In November 2023, NTIA issued a programmatic waiver to modify the requirement for LOCs as the sole means of security to secure the performance by recipients of BEAD grant funds to construct broadband infrastructure. After NTIA’s waiver announcement, NASBP and SFAA formed a surety working group to develop performance bond forms and model language to facilitate the use of surety bonds to meet BEAD Program security requirements.
The surety working group developed model language for state broadband offices to insert into award agreements and a sample letter template to provide state broadband offices with initial information about an internet service provider’s (ISP) or its construction contractor’s “bondability.”
The group also developed two performance bond forms.
- One addresses situations when the ISP can qualify for bonding and furnishes the bond directly to the state broadband office.
- The other addresses situations where the contractor to the ISP building out the broadband system is better suited to qualify for bonding.
As a hallmark of public procurement, surety bonds are widely used and accepted forms of performance security. They provide viable options for qualified companies that receive federal grant monies for the development of broadband infrastructure and that wish to offer a form of security other than a bank LOC.
The BEAD Program Surety Bond Information Kit is available to download here for free in PDF format. The two bond forms, model language, and sample letter are also available in Word format.
BEAD Program Surety Bond Information Kit
1. BEAD Surety Bond Information Kit Background & Summary
PDF
2. Surety Industry Recommended BEAD Surety Bond Form - Single Obligee
Word Document PDF
3. Surety Industry Recommended BEAD Surety Bond Form - Dual Obligees
Word Document PDF
4. Surety Industry Recommended Subgrantee Agreement Bond Provisions
Word Document PDF
5. Surety Industry Recommended BEAD Bondability Letter Template
Word Document PDF
6. BEAD Surety Bond Information Full Kit
PDF
Direct questions concerning the surety bonds or the bondability letter to:
- Larry LeClair, Director, Government Relations with NASBP, at lleclair@nasbp.org
- Julie Alleyne, VP of Policy and General Counsel with SFAA, at jalleyne@surety.org.
