Surety Bond Guarantee Program-Preferred Surety Qualification, Increased Guarantee for Veteran and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business, Deadline for Payment of Guarantee Fees, Denial of Liability, and Technical Amendments

On September 26, 2006, SBA published a proposed rule in the Federal Register addressing six changes to the SBA Surety Bond Guarantee (SBG) Program in order to improve operation of the SBG program and make it easier for sureties and small business concerns to participate in the program. Specifically, this rules makes the following amendments to the program: (1) Gives effect to the statutory reduction in the frequency of audits required of Preferred Surety Bond (PSB) Sureties; (2) obligates SBA to guarantee 90 percent of the loss incurred by a Prior Approval Surety on bonds issued on behalf of small businesses owned and controlled by veterans, and Service-disabled veterans; (3) imposes a 60-day deadline for the submission of surety fees to SBA; (4) allows PSB Sureties to charge premiums in accordance with applicable state ceilings, as presently permitted under the Prior Approval Program; (5) deletes the existing reference to the expiration of the PSB Program; and (6) allows Affiliates of a PSB Surety to participate in the Prior Approval Program.