Circular 570: Approved Surety Companies for Federal Bonds

Treasury Circular 570 is the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s official list of surety companies approved to write or guarantee bonds on federal contracts and judicial matters. Any company backing a federal performance bond, payment bond, or judicial bond has to appear on the Circular with a valid Certificate of Authority, and each listed company is published alongside an underwriting limit that caps the size of a single bond it can guarantee on its own.¹ Federal contracting officers and courts check the list before accepting a bond, which is why it functions as the gatekeeper for federal bonding.

The Bureau of the Fiscal Service maintains the searchable list online, and the most recent version took effect August 1, 2025. Treasury also posts supplemental updates through the year as companies are added, revised, or terminated, so bond-approving officers should verify against the current version rather than an older copy.¹²

What the List Shows for Each Company

Every entry gives the company’s underwriting limitation together with licensing information. The licensing data is supplied by the companies themselves, so for current details it can be worth confirming directly with the company or the relevant state insurance department.¹

The underwriting limit is set at 10% of the company’s paid-up capital and surplus, as determined by Treasury.³ A surety with $500 million in capital and surplus, for example, carries a $50 million limit.

Here is the detail that trips people up. The limit is per bond, not a cumulative cap on total business. A surety with a $50 million limit can write many bonds of up to $50 million each. The regulation defines “single risk” as the total risk under one bond regardless of how many individual obligations that bond covers, and the Circular itself states that Treasury requirements do not limit the total face amount of bonds a company may provide.³¹

When Federal Bonds Require a Listed Surety

The Miller Act sets the trigger for most federal bonding. Under 40 U.S.C. § 3131, any federal construction contract over $100,000 requires the contractor to furnish both a performance bond and a payment bond before award. The performance bond protects the government if the contractor fails to complete the work; the payment bond protects the laborers and material suppliers who might otherwise go unpaid.⁴ Both bonds must come from a surety the contracting officer finds satisfactory, and the Federal Acquisition Regulation points contracting officers to Circular 570 as the authoritative list of acceptable corporate sureties.²

One boundary worth flagging: the Circular is not the only route. The FAR also allows individual sureties, where a person pledges eligible unencumbered assets equal to or exceeding the full face value of the bond. Individual sureties are acceptable for all federal bond types except position schedule bonds, and up to three can be used on a single bond so long as their combined pledged assets meet the penal amount. Each is jointly and severally liable for the full bond.⁵ They are much less common than corporate sureties on federal work.

How a Company Gets on the List

Being listed means holding a Certificate of Authority from Treasury. The statutory requirements sit in 31 U.S.C. § 9305. A surety company must file its articles of incorporation and a sworn statement of assets and liabilities with the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Secretary evaluates three things: whether the company’s charter authorizes surety business, whether the company has at least $250,000 in paid-up capital, and whether the company can actually carry out its contracts.⁶ The company also has to be incorporated under the laws of a U.S. state, the District of Columbia, or a U.S. territory.⁷

Beyond those thresholds, Treasury conducts a detailed financial review under 31 CFR § 223.9, looking at how assets are invested, how they’re valued, and whether the company’s holdings meet Treasury’s standards for safety and concentration.⁸

Certification is not a one-time review. Every January, April, July, and October, a listed company must file an updated sworn statement of assets and liabilities with Treasury. That quarterly cycle is how Treasury recalculates underwriting limits and catches financial deterioration.⁶

Bonds That Exceed a Company’s Underwriting Limit

Federal contracts regularly exceed a single surety’s limit, especially on large infrastructure projects. The regulations provide two ways to handle the excess.

Coinsurance splits a single bond between two or more Treasury-certified companies. Each company’s portion of the liability has to fit within its own underwriting limit, the combined limits have to cover the total bond amount, and each company’s share appears on the face of the bond.⁹

Reinsurance works differently. One surety writes the entire bond and then transfers the excess liability to other Treasury-certified companies behind the scenes. For bonds running to the United States, that reinsurance must be placed within 45 days of the bond’s execution. A federal agency can accept the bond from the direct-writing company even though the face amount exceeds that company’s limit, though the agency may require the executed reinsurance agreements before giving final approval. Miller Act reinsurance uses Standard Forms 273, 274, and 275.⁹

How a Company Comes Off the List

Treasury can revoke a Certificate of Authority through two paths, and both end the same way: the company can no longer write or reinsure federal bonds.¹⁰

The first is Treasury-initiated. When Treasury has reason to believe a company is failing to comply with statutory or regulatory requirements, it notifies the company and gives it a chance to respond. If the response is inadequate, Treasury revokes the certificate.

The second starts with a federal agency complaint. If an agency determines that a surety has not promptly paid or satisfied a final bond obligation, it can file a formal complaint with Treasury. The agency must certify that the obligation is administratively final, that the company has not paid, and that no court has stayed the obligation. Treasury then gives the company 20 business days to respond in writing.¹¹

Even after a revocation decision, the company usually gets a 20-business-day window to cure by paying the outstanding bond obligations, including any interest and penalties. Pay within that window and the complaint is moot. The exception is willful failure, meaning a careless or reckless disregard of a known legal obligation; no cure period is offered in that case.¹¹

The statute adds a separate automatic bar. If a surety fails to pay a final judgment on a bond and no appeal or stay is pending within 30 days, the company is prohibited from providing any additional bonds.⁶

Where to Find the Current List and Who to Ask

The current Circular and all supplements are posted by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service at fiscal.treasury.gov.¹² Questions about the Circular or the certification process go to the Surety Bond Branch at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service in Parkersburg, West Virginia, at (304) 480-6635 or Surety.Bonds@fiscal.treasury.gov.

1
Bureau of the Fiscal Service. Department Circular 570
2
Acquisition.gov. Federal Acquisition Regulation Subpart 28.2 – Sureties and Other Security for Bonds
3
eCFR. 31 CFR 223.10 – Limitation of Risk
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 40 USC 3131 – Bonds of Contractors of Public Buildings or Works
5
Acquisition.gov. FAR 28.203-1 – Acceptability of Individual Sureties
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 USC 9305 – Authority and Revocation of Authority of Surety Corporations
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 USC 9304 – Surety Corporations
8
eCFR. 31 CFR 223.9 – Determination of Financial Condition and Other Requirements
9
eCFR. 31 CFR 223.11 – Limitation of Risk: Protective Methods
10
eCFR. 31 CFR Part 223 – Surety Companies Doing Business with the United States
11
eCFR. 31 CFR 223.20 – Revocation Proceedings Initiated by Treasury Upon Receipt of an Agency Complaint
12
Bureau of the Fiscal Service. Department Circular 570