{
  "$schema": "https://bestinsuranceresearch.com/llms-full.txt",
  "recordType": "question",
  "id": "miller-act-payment-bond-deadlines",
  "canonicalUrl": "https://bestinsuranceresearch.com/questions/miller-act-payment-bond-deadlines",
  "contentVersion": "2026.08.31",
  "generatedFor": "2026-09-07",
  "operator": {
    "legalName": "WJB Services, Inc.",
    "dba": "Bollinsure Insurance Services",
    "license": "6013787",
    "licenseAuthority": "California Department of Insurance"
  },
  "license": "Text on this page may be quoted with attribution and a link to the canonical URL.",
  "notice": "Public page facts only. This record contains no visitor question, no tool input, and no identifier. It is not a coverage determination, an eligibility decision, or individualized advice.",
  "question": "How long do I have to claim on a payment bond for unpaid work on a federal job?",
  "aliases": [
    "Miller Act payment bond deadline",
    "90 day notice payment bond federal project",
    "how long to sue on a Miller Act bond",
    "40 USC 3133 notice requirement",
    "unpaid subcontractor federal construction bond claim"
  ],
  "directAnswer": "One year to sue, and for some claimants a 90 day notice before that. An action must be brought no later than one year after the day the claimant last performed labor or supplied material. A claimant with a contract with a subcontractor but none with the prime must additionally give the prime written notice within 90 days of that same date. Both clocks run from your own last day of work, not from when payment was refused.",
  "assumes": [
    "The project is a federal public building or public work for which a payment bond was furnished under 40 U.S.C. 3131.",
    "You furnished labor or material in carrying out the work provided for in that contract.",
    "You are asking about the bond claim rather than about a lien, which is not available against federal property."
  ],
  "whatChangesTheAnswer": [
    "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.",
    "The date you last performed labor or supplied material, because both the notice period and the one year limitation run from it.",
    "How the notice was served, since the statute prescribes means that produce third-party verification of delivery or marshal-style service.",
    "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.",
    "Whether the contract exceeded the threshold that required a payment bond at all. Between $35,000 and $150,000 the contracting officer selects alternative payment protections instead."
  ],
  "variability": [
    "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, 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."
  ],
  "nextActions": [
    "Fix the date you last performed labor or supplied material and diary both 90 days and one year from it, before anything else.",
    "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.",
    "Ask for a copy of the payment bond. It was required to be furnished before the contract was awarded.",
    "Check any waiver you were asked to sign against the timing rule, since one executed before the work was furnished is void.",
    "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."
  ],
  "confidence": "established",
  "reviewState": "under-review",
  "classification": {
    "family": "commercial",
    "lines": [
      "surety",
      "contract-surety"
    ],
    "states": [],
    "audience": "business-owner",
    "topics": [
      "surety",
      "payment bond",
      "miller act",
      "deadlines",
      "construction"
    ]
  },
  "effectiveDate": "2026-09-06",
  "lastReviewed": "2026-09-06",
  "author": "Aaron Bollinger",
  "reviewer": "Brian Bollinger",
  "sourceIds": [
    "usc-40-3133-miller-act-claims",
    "usc-40-3131-miller-act",
    "far-28-102-1"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "usc-40-3133-miller-act-claims",
      "title": "40 U.S.C. 3133 - Rights of persons furnishing labor or material (Miller Act payment bond claims)",
      "publisher": "Office of the Law Revision Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives (uscode.house.gov)",
      "url": "https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title40-section3133&num=0&edition=prelim",
      "sourceType": "statute",
      "jurisdiction": "US",
      "authorityLevel": "primary-law",
      "primary": true,
      "publishedDate": "unknown",
      "effectiveDate": "n/a",
      "accessedDate": "2026-09-06",
      "lastChecked": "2026-09-06",
      "updateCadence": "Amended only by legislation.",
      "status": "active",
      "supportsClaims": [
        "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."
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "usc-40-3131-miller-act",
      "title": "40 U.S.C. 3131 - Bonds of contractors of public buildings or works (Miller Act)",
      "publisher": "Office of the Law Revision Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives (uscode.house.gov)",
      "url": "https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title40-section3131&num=0&edition=prelim",
      "sourceType": "statute",
      "jurisdiction": "US",
      "authorityLevel": "primary-law",
      "primary": true,
      "publishedDate": "unknown",
      "effectiveDate": "n/a",
      "accessedDate": "2026-08-31",
      "lastChecked": "2026-08-31",
      "updateCadence": "Amended by act of Congress; codified in title 40 chapter 31 subchapter III",
      "status": "active",
      "supportsClaims": [
        "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)."
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "far-28-102-1",
      "title": "FAR 28.102-1 - Performance and payment bonds and alternative payment protections for construction contracts, General",
      "publisher": "U.S. General Services Administration (Acquisition.gov, Federal Acquisition Regulation)",
      "url": "https://www.acquisition.gov/far/28.102-1",
      "sourceType": "regulation",
      "jurisdiction": "US",
      "authorityLevel": "regulator",
      "primary": true,
      "publishedDate": "unknown",
      "effectiveDate": "n/a",
      "accessedDate": "2026-08-31",
      "lastChecked": "2026-08-31",
      "updateCadence": "Updated by Federal Acquisition Circulars",
      "status": "active",
      "supportsClaims": [
        "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."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "relatedQuestions": [
    {
      "id": "surety-bond-vs-insurance",
      "url": "https://bestinsuranceresearch.com/questions/surety-bond-vs-insurance"
    }
  ]
}