Maryland Performance BondsLittle Miller Act Limits

No -- not automatically. Under State Finance and Procurement §17-103(a), a performance bond is only mandatory once the construction contract exceeds $100,000. A $90,000 contract falls below that line. But §17-103(b) gives public bodies other than the State itself the discretion to require security on contracts between $50,000 and $100,000, capped at 50% of the contract amount. Whether your $90,000 county or municipal contract needs a bond depends on that awarding body's own policy -- check the solicitation's General Conditions, not just the statute.

Yes. State Finance and Procurement §17-104 recognizes three forms of security: a surety bond from a company authorized to do business in Maryland, cash in an amount equivalent to the bond, or "other security satisfactory to the public body awarding the contract" -- which can include a mortgage or deed of trust on Maryland real property, capped at 75% of your equity interest and recorded in the county land records. In practice almost no contractor chooses cash or a mortgage: both lock up capital you could otherwise use to bid the next job, while a bond only costs a premium. See the cost comparison below for the real numbers.

No. The Maryland Department of Transportation is a unit of state government, so MDOT construction contracts follow the same framework as any other state agency: Title 17's statutory floor plus COMAR 21.06.07.10, which sets performance and payment bonds at 100% of the contract price for construction contracts over $100,000, delivered no later than contract execution. MDOT State Highway Administration incorporates this into its own Standard Specifications for Construction and Materials, so the bonding clause you see in an SHA bid package traces back to the same statute covered on this page.

It depends on who signs as the obligee, not where the jobsite sits. A Maryland state agency, MDOT, or a Maryland county contract is governed by Title 17's Little Miller Act. The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (which serves both Montgomery and Prince George's counties) follows the same $100,000 / 100%-of-contract model in its own bid documents. A federal contract -- GSA, NAVFAC Washington, VA, NIH -- is governed by the Miller Act (40 U.S.C. §3131) regardless of whether the jobsite is in Maryland, DC, or Virginia. A WMATA contract is a separate case: WMATA operates under its own interstate compact and procurement manual, so its bonding clause should be confirmed directly in the solicitation rather than assumed from either statute.

The statute itself sets a lower floor: §17-103(a) requires payment security of "at least 50%" of the total contract amount. But the regulation that implements Title 17 for State procurements, COMAR 21.06.07.10, sets both the performance bond and the payment bond at 100% of the contract price for construction contracts over $100,000. In practice, almost every state and MDOT solicitation you'll bid uses the 100%/100% COMAR standard -- the 50% figure mostly matters for local public bodies drafting their own bonding policy under the statutory floor.

Under §17-105, the security must be made payable to "the State of Maryland" for state contracts, or to the specific public body for other contracts. The form of the security has to be approved by the Attorney General for state contracts, or by that public body's own legal counsel otherwise. Once approved, the contractor files the bond (or the trust account evidence, for cash security) with the Comptroller's Office for state contracts, or with the appropriate office of the other public body. Your surety agent typically handles the paperwork, but knowing who signs off explains why bond approval can take longer on a first-time state filing.