SBA surety bond guarantee fees: what changes on November 30, 2026
Small Business Administration. November 2, 2026. Read the source.
How are SBA surety bond guarantee fees changing in 2026?
For SBA surety bond guarantees approved on or after November 30, 2026, the Prior Approval (Plan A) program charges the contractor $7.29 per thousand dollars of the contract amount, up from $6.00. The surety’s fee rises from 20 percent to 26 percent of the bond premium. Projects under NAICS codes 31, 32, and 33 (manufacturing) keep the old rates. The Preferred Surety Bond program keeps the old rates for everyone. Bid bonds carry no guarantee fee.
What the program does
Public construction and service contracts usually require bid, payment, and performance bonds. SBA’s Surety Bond Guarantee Program guarantees those bonds for small and emerging contractors who cannot get bonding through regular commercial channels. If the contractor defaults on the contract, SBA covers a share of the surety’s loss. That guarantee gives the surety a reason to bond a small firm it would otherwise turn away.
SBA funds the program with two fees, one paid by the contractor (the principal) and one paid by the surety. Both go into a revolving fund that covers the program’s liabilities and some of its expenses.
The new fees
The change applies to the Prior Approval program, where SBA approves each guarantee. For guarantees approved on or after November 30, 2026:
Contractor fee: $7.29 per thousand dollars of the contract amount, up from $6.00. On a $500,000 contract that is $3,645, up from $3,000.
Surety fee: 26 percent of the bond premium, up from 20 percent.
The fee applies to each guaranteed bond other than a bid bond. A contractor can still get a guaranteed bid bond without paying it.
Who keeps the old rates
Manufacturing projects. Bond guarantees on projects under NAICS codes 31, 32, and 33 stay at $6.00 per thousand dollars for the contractor and 20 percent of the premium for the surety.
The Preferred Surety Bond program. Fees stay at $6.00 per thousand dollars and 20 percent of the premium.
SBA cut the fees to these levels on October 1, 2018, as a trial of lower pricing. Since then the Prior Approval program has run at a funding deficit while the preferred program has run a marginal surplus. The new Prior Approval rates are the ones that applied before 2018.
Price it into the bid
The contractor fee scales with the contract amount, so it belongs in the bid price. A firm whose Prior Approval guarantee is approved on or after November 30 should budget $7.29 per thousand dollars for it. A firm whose surety is in the preferred program, or whose project is manufacturing, keeps $6.00.
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