On May 19, 2021, NASBP and SFAA jointly issued revised guidelines on electronic surety bonding and digital signature best practices for bond obligees and public officials seeking to improve procurement processes. The new electronic bonding recommendations can be found at the suretyautomation.org site.

The joint surety industry effort involved many volunteers and subject experts, including technology consultants specializing in surety bonds, who realized the importance of quickly responding to an accelerated demand for tools and processes that support more efficient electronic bonding.

“The ‘Best Practices in Electronic Bonding Technologies’ serves as an excellent guide and benchmark for all users of surety bonds and assists in the adoption of electronic bond execution and acceptance,” said Michael Lischer, Chair of the NASBP Automation and Technology Committee. “This remarkable joint effort represents how we can, as NASBP President Tracy Tucker has expressed, make our future ‘Better Together.’”

The guidelines were revised to help ensure bond stakeholders reap benefits of electronic bonding, such as reduced processing costs, greater efficiency, and increased productivity, while protecting the integrity and enforceability of bond transactions.

“We know bond obligees and public officials are looking toward the surety industry for guidance, as they seek to move from paper to paperless environments,” related NASBP CEO Mark McCallum. “These jointly drafted electronic bonding guidelines provide needed guidance from the surety industry to decision-makers as they contemplate that transition.”

The recommendations include possible methodologies for electronic bond execution and a checklist of essential characteristics of any electronic bonding process.

NASBP and SFAA will continue to support the electronic execution and delivery of surety bonds and to monitor advances in electronic bonding activities to issue helpful, practical guidance to support our members and the surety industry. The associations encourage bond obligees to include the acceptance of electronic bonds in their plans for procurement modernization, keeping in mind that surety bonds remain a critical component of and necessary protection for public procurements.

Review and download the electronic surety bonding guidelines, “Best Practices in Electronic Bonding Technologies.” Read the press release about the revised guidelines here.