How long do I have to claim on a payment bond for unpaid work on a federal job?

What this assumes

• The project is a federal public building or public work for which a payment bond was furnished under 40 U.S.C. 3131 [2].

• You furnished labor or material in carrying out the work provided for in that contract [1].

• You are asking about the bond claim rather than about a lien, which is not available against federal property.

What changes the answer

• Whether you have a direct contract with the prime. If you do, the 90 day notice in subdivision (b)(2) does not apply to you; if your contract is with a subcontractor, it does [1].

• The date you last performed labor or supplied material, because both the notice period and the one year limitation run from it [1].

• How the notice was served, since the statute prescribes means that produce third-party verification of delivery or marshal-style service [1].

• Whether a waiver was signed, and crucially whether it was signed before or after the work was furnished, because a waiver executed beforehand is void [1].

• Whether the contract exceeded the threshold that required a payment bond at all [2]. Between $35,000 and $150,000 the contracting officer selects alternative payment protections instead [3].

Where it varies by state, form, carrier, or fact

• This is the federal Miller Act. State public works are covered by separate little Miller Act statutes with their own periods, and private projects are usually a mechanics lien question instead.

• Where the contract is greater than $35,000 but not greater than $150,000, the protection may be an irrevocable letter of credit, a tripartite escrow agreement, certificates of deposit or a deposit of assets rather than a bond [3], and those are claimed differently.

• Whether a particular relationship counts as a direct contractual relationship with a subcontractor is a legal question about the contracting chain, and remoteness beyond that tier is a recognised limit this record does not address.

Next actions

1. Fix the date you last performed labor or supplied material and diary both 90 days and one year from it, before anything else [1].

2. If your contract is with a subcontractor rather than the prime, send the written notice by a method producing third-party proof of delivery and keep the proof [1].

3. Ask for a copy of the payment bond. It was required to be furnished before the contract was awarded [2].

4. Check any waiver you were asked to sign against the timing rule, since one executed before the work was furnished is void [1].

5. Take the dates to a construction lawyer rather than relying on a general period, because the action must be brought in the name of the United States for your use and in a specified district [1].

Source ledger

3 sources. Every citation number above resolves to a record below. Nothing here sits behind an account.

1. [1]

   40 U.S.C. 3133 - Rights of persons furnishing labor or material (Miller Act payment bond claims)(opens the original record on Office of the Law Revision Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives (uscode.house.gov))

   Office of the Law Revision Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives (uscode.house.gov)Primary lawPrimaryJurisdiction USLast checked September 6, 2026Updates: Amended only by legislation.ID usc-40-3133-miller-act-claims

   What this source supports (6)

   • Section 3133(b)(1) provides that every person that has furnished labor or material in carrying out work provided for in a contract for which a payment bond is furnished under section 3131, and that has not been paid in full within 90 days after the day on which the person did or performed the last of the labor or furnished or supplied the material for which the claim is made, may bring a civil action on the payment bond for the amount unpaid at the time the civil action is brought, and may prosecute the action to final execution and judgment for the amount due.
   • Section 3133(b)(2) provides that a person having a direct contractual relationship with a subcontractor but no contractual relationship, express or implied, with the contractor furnishing the payment bond may bring a civil action on the payment bond only on giving written notice to the contractor within 90 days from the date on which that person did or performed the last of the labor or furnished or supplied the last of the material for which the claim is made.
   • Section 3133(b)(2) requires that notice to be served by any means that provides written, third-party verification of delivery to the contractor at any place the contractor maintains an office or conducts business or at the contractor's residence, or in any manner in which the United States marshal of the district in which the public improvement is situated may by law serve summons.
   • Section 3133(b)(3) requires a civil action brought under that subsection to be brought in the name of the United States for the use of the person bringing the action, and in the United States District Court for any district in which the contract was to be performed and executed, regardless of the amount in controversy.
   • Section 3133(b) provides that an action brought under that subsection must be brought no later than one year after the day on which the last of the labor was performed or material was supplied by the person bringing the action.
   • Section 3133(c) provides that a waiver of the right to bring a civil action on a payment bond required under the subchapter is void unless the waiver is in writing, is signed by the person whose right is waived, and is executed after the person whose right is waived has furnished labor or material for use in the performance of the contract.

   This is the section that decides whether an unpaid subcontractor or supplier actually recovers, and it is separate from section 3131, which only requires the bond to exist. Two deadlines do the work and they run from different events: the 90 day notice in subdivision (b)(2) runs from the claimant's own last labor or material and applies only to a claimant one tier removed from the prime, while the one year limitation runs from the same event and applies to everyone. The waiver rule in subdivision (c) is the counterpart worth reading before signing anything at the start of a job, because a waiver executed before the labor or material is furnished is void. Verified against the official Law Revision Counsel text; the Cornell rendering was read first and agrees. The one year limitation is attributed here to subdivision (b) rather than to a paragraph number, because the paragraph label was not rendered on the page as read.

   Active
2. [2]

   40 U.S.C. 3131 - Bonds of contractors of public buildings or works (Miller Act)(opens the original record on Office of the Law Revision Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives (uscode.house.gov))

   Office of the Law Revision Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives (uscode.house.gov)Primary lawPrimaryJurisdiction USLast checked August 31, 2026Updates: Amended by act of Congress; codified in title 40 chapter 31 subchapter IIIID usc-40-3131-miller-act

   What this source supports (8)

   • In this subchapter, the term contractor means a person awarded a contract described in subsection (b).
   • Before any contract of more than $100,000 is awarded for the construction, alteration, or repair of any public building or public work of the Federal Government, a person must furnish to the Government a performance bond and a payment bond, which become binding when the contract is awarded.
   • The performance bond must be with a surety satisfactory to the officer awarding the contract, and in an amount the officer considers adequate, for the protection of the Government.
   • The payment bond must be with a surety satisfactory to the officer for the protection of all persons supplying labor and material in carrying out the work provided for in the contract.
   • The amount of the payment bond shall equal the total amount payable by the terms of the contract unless the officer awarding the contract determines, in a writing supported by specific findings, that a payment bond in that amount is impractical, in which case the contracting officer shall set the amount; the amount of the payment bond shall not be less than the amount of the performance bond.
   • Every performance bond required under this section specifically shall provide coverage for taxes the Government imposes which are collected, deducted, or withheld from wages the contractor pays in carrying out the contract.
   • A contracting officer may waive the requirement of a performance bond and payment bond for work under a contract that is to be performed in a foreign country if the officer finds that it is impracticable for the contractor to furnish the bonds.
   • This section does not limit the authority of a contracting officer to require a performance bond or other security in addition to those, or in cases other than the cases, specified in subsection (b).

   Re-verified 2026-08-31 on the Office of the Law Revision Counsel site, the official publisher of the United States Code; the $100,000 figure in subsection (b) is confirmed as the current statutory threshold. The source URL was moved from the Cornell LII reproduction to uscode.house.gov in this revision. Two statutory branches that the earlier draft omitted are now on the card: subsection (d), the foreign-country waiver, and subsection (e), which preserves the contracting officer's authority to require bonds or other security beyond and outside subsection (b). An earlier version of this card also misquoted the payment bond rule as a written determination that a lesser amount is adequate; the statute says the awarding officer must determine, in a writing supported by specific findings, that a payment bond in the total-contract-price amount is impractical.

   Active
3. [3]

   FAR 28.102-1 - Performance and payment bonds and alternative payment protections for construction contracts, General(opens the original record on U.S. General Services Administration (Acquisition.gov, Federal Acquisition Regulation))

   U.S. General Services Administration (Acquisition.gov, Federal Acquisition Regulation)RegulatorPrimaryJurisdiction USLast checked August 31, 2026Updates: Updated by Federal Acquisition CircularsID far-28-102-1

   What this source supports (5)

   • FAR 28.102-1(a) states that 40 U.S.C. chapter 31, subchapter III, Bonds, formerly known as the Miller Act, requires performance and payment bonds for any construction contract exceeding $150,000, except that this requirement may be waived, first by the contracting officer for work performed in a foreign country upon a finding that it is impracticable for the contractor to furnish the bonds, and second as otherwise authorized by the Bonds statute or by other law.
   • Pursuant to 40 U.S.C. 3132, for construction contracts greater than $35,000 but not greater than $150,000, the contracting officer shall select two or more of the listed payment protections, giving particular consideration to inclusion of an irrevocable letter of credit as one of the selected alternatives.
   • The payment protections the contracting officer selects from are a payment bond, an irrevocable letter of credit, a tripartite escrow agreement, certificates of deposit, and a deposit of the types of security listed in FAR 28.204-1 and 28.204-2.
   • The contractor shall submit to the Government one of the payment protections selected by the contracting officer.
   • The contractor shall furnish all bonds or alternative payment protection, including any necessary reinsurance agreements, before receiving a notice to proceed with the work or being allowed to start work.

   Re-fetched 2026-08-31 from acquisition.gov, the publisher's own site, and the paragraph (a) and (b)(1) text was read against the part 28 page as well. Three corrections were made in this revision. The waiver clause in paragraph (a), previously dropped for lack of quotable detail, is now carried with both of its branches, because stating the $150,000 requirement without it overstates the rule. The list of payment protections previously stopped at four and omitted the fifth, a deposit of the types of security listed in 28.204-1 and 28.204-2. The bracket wording now follows the FAR, which reads not greater than $150,000. The separate card entry about the 40 U.S.C. 3132 citation was folded into the paragraph (b)(1) entry, where that citation actually appears. The FAR text contains no inflation-adjustment language, so this source is not used for any assertion about thresholds moving.

   Active

Related questions