NASBP Members Participate in DOT Bonding Education Program

NASBP Members Participate in Department Of Transportation Bonding Education Programs in Maryland

		NASBP members are helping to advance and educate Baltimore area small and emerging business owners about surety bonding through a U.S. Department of Transportation Bonding Education Program (BEP). By participating, these producers are demonstrating to state legislators the commitment the surety industry has for helping small business owners succeed. Maryland Democratic Senator Catherine Pugh (pictured left) attended one of the Workshops held last month in Hanover, MD, where NASBP bond producers presented to and met with area small and minority business owners.

		By conducting the “Bonding and Insurance for New and Emerging Contractors” seminar for the DOT Program, NASBP members, like Bond Producers Joshua Etemadi (pictured below) and Edin Zukanovic (pictured left) of Construction Bonds, Inc., a Division of Murray Risk Management and Insurance, Herndon, VA, educate owners of small construction businesses on ways to improve their operations so they may achieve or increase surety credit. “It’s in our best interest to build their business so they can bid and win more projects,” said Etemadi. “The contractors participating in this Program learn everything from estimating, marketing, and business planning to meeting with CPAs, lawyers and bankers,” he added.

		Etemadi has been working with the Maryland DOT Program business-owner participants one-on-one once a week in the evening, since the 8-week Program began April 28 at the MD DOT Headquarters. Eleven Bonding Education Programs, jointly sponsored by the U.S. DOT and Surety & Fidelity Association of America (SFAA), have been scheduled throughout the country. To learn more about the DOT BEP’s and to find out how you can participate, visit www.nasbp.org. “During these Programs, these owners have an opportunity to hear free advice from a future ‘circle of trust’ that the contractor will benefit from when building their business,” said Etemadi, who is Vice Chair of the National Association of Surety Bond Producers (NASBP) Small and Emerging Business Committee. “On top of these weekly meetings, they have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with a bond producer and review their ‘bonding package,’” he said, adding, “the producer has a chance to review the information presented and make suggestions on how to improve their bonding capabilities.”

		Adam Grap, Sales Associate of Allegiance Surety Assoc., Inc., Laurel, MD, said he believes it is important for all small and emerging contractors to take full advantage of this opportunity. Grap, who is another NASBP producer participating in the Program, said, “by attending the DOT BEP, the small and emerging contractor discovers in a short period of classroom time the stages of the bonding process and the value bonding will offer to their business.” Producers like Etemadi, Zukanovic, and Grap help these small business owners (audience pictured left) assemble the materials necessary for a complete bond application and address any omissions that might deter the successful underwriting of a bond for their company.