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Bid guarantees
Understanding the Basics: Bid guarantees and their Miller Act cousins, payment and performance bonds

In many government contracts, but especially construction ones, security is the watchword–security for the Government, that is. To that end, the Government tethers contractors to their bids. Likewise, it demands certainty of performance and payment of subcontractors. In short, the Government doesn’t want a routine building project turning into an imbroglio–or become a monument to unfulfilled visions, like the famously incomplete buildings cataloged here. For that reason, the Government accessorizes contracts with some fun FAR provisions that allow for deep and dreamless bureaucratic sleep. Here, we’ll first touch on bid guarantees. Then, we’ll proceed to performance and payment bonds–which were…