Performance Bond Threshold Changes Proposed in Wyoming

Wyoming SB 28 would revise the types of projects to which the little Miller Act applies.  The little Miller act is the statute in the state that requires performance and payment bonds on public works projects.  It is referred to as the little Miller Act” as it is Wyoming’s version of the 1932 Miller act, passed by the Federal Government  requiring performance and payment bonds on federally funded construction projects.

Under current law, the bond requirement applies to any state, county, city, town, school district, or other political subdivision contract for the erection, construction, alteration, repair, or addition to any public building or other public work or improvement exceeding the bond threshold of $150,000.  Under SB 28, the bond threshold would be changed to apply to any contract for construction, major maintenance or renovation, or an improvement to any public building or other public work, so that the two thresholds in the procurement code would be different in text.  Missing from the bond threshold would be erection, alteration, repair, and additions to a public building or public work.

There is a source of confusion in the new proposal.  Do construction, major maintenance, and renovation and improvement in the bond threshold mean the same thing as erection, alteration, repair, additions, and improvement to a public building or public work under the competitive bidding threshold?  This difference in the language of the two thresholds may generate litigation.   Lawyers must be happy about this as lawyers generally love unproductive litigation.