Get bonded for software work,
before you bid.
Public agencies increasingly want a performance bond on implementation, integration and managed-services contracts. One ten-minute application tells you how much you qualify for. $0, and it never obligates you to bond through us.
Trusted by industry leaders
Free now. A two-page request when you win.
Prequalification is the front door to the bonds that actually cost money. The whole sequence:
Apply online
Your company, your largest delivered project in the last three years, current contracted work, and five yes/no history questions.
Underwriter sets your limit
A soft credit pull, then a written single-contract and total limit. Want a bigger line? They tell you exactly what to send.
Letter in hand
A letter of bondability for proposals and procurement questionnaires.
Send the contract
A short bond request form plus the contract or statement of work. The bond issues against the file you already built.
What it is and who needs it.
Why a software company gets asked for a bond at all
Surety on a technology contract guarantees the same thing it guarantees on a building: that the work gets finished. When a public agency puts a multi-million-dollar ERP implementation, records-system migration or managed-services contract out to bid, the bond is what protects it if the vendor walks away mid-delivery. The obligation is the same; only the evidence is different.
That is why a technology submission carries evidence a contractor's never does. Alongside the usual financials and a project cost breakdown, a technology underwriter reads delivery history against acceptance criteria, your backlog of contracted and recurring obligations, whether proprietary source code sits in escrow and who can release it, the service levels you have committed to, and your record on outages and security incidents. Propeller runs this on its own Technology & Data Company questionnaire rather than the contractor one.
First, check which one you were actually asked for. Technology solicitations ask for insurance far more often than for a bond, and the two are opposites. A surety bond guarantees the agency that your work gets finished and pays them if it does not — it protects the buyer, and you indemnify the surety. Errors & omissions and cyber liability are insurance: they pay when your work, or a breach, causes a loss — they protect you. A solicitation can ask for both, in different sections. If it is the insurance you need, we are a licensed brokerage and can quote that too; if it is a bond, prequalification below is the front door.
We say it out loud, the way we do for our free bid bonds: prequalification is the audition. You owe nothing if you never bond a project through us, and nothing obligates you to use us when you do — but your file will already be built and your limit already confirmed the day a solicitation asks whether you are bondable.
You need this if you are
How big a limit can a technology company get?
These are the usual <em>maximums</em> for each financial presentation, not a quote — where you land inside a tier depends on delivery record, liquidity and equity. Start wherever your books are today and move down a row as they mature.
| Financial presentation | What you show | Per contract | All open work |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal creditNo financial statements | Owners' personal credit, your delivery history and past project sizes. No balance sheet required. | $1,000,000 | $1,250,000 |
| In-house statementsAccrual basis, no CPA opinion | Fiscal year-end statements you prepare yourself on an accrual basis, with AR aging, deferred revenue and debt schedules. | $1,500,000 | $2,000,000 |
| CPA compilationPrepared by your accountant | CPA-compiled statements plus a current backlog / work-in-progress report covering active projects, service contracts and maintenance obligations. | $2,000,000 | $5,000,000 |
| CPA reviewed or auditedWith notes and schedules | Reviewed or audited statements, backlog and contracted-revenue reporting, a bank line-of-credit confirmation, and your technology risk documents. | Set case by case | Set case by case |
Per contract vs. all open work: the first is the largest single contract they will bond; the second is your total bonded work at once, which for a technology company includes multi-year managed-service and maintenance obligations, not just implementations.
What you'll be asked.
The online application
EVERYONE · ≈10 MIN- Your company: entity type, address, year founded, owner and contact.
- Your work: your service lines, your largest delivered project in the last three years, and current contracted work.
- Five yes/no questions: bankruptcy, a failed contract or paid surety claim, litigation or late payroll, tax liens in the last three years, and whether you have been bonded before. A "yes" is not a decline; leaving one out is.
- Soft credit consent for the owners. It never shows to lenders.
- The limit you'd like. It sizes the review; the price stays $0.
The Technology & Data questionnaire
REQUIRED TO PLACE YOUR PROGRAM- Service profile: custom software, SaaS, data and analytics, AI/ML, systems integration, cybersecurity or managed services — plus what you self-perform and what you subcontract.
- Delivery record: your largest technology projects of the last five years with contract value, acceptance status and obligee references, and the split of bonded, non-bonded, recurring and project-based revenue.
- Source code and controls: whether you maintain proprietary code, your escrow agent and deposit frequency, who holds release authority, and your version-control, build and QA practices.
- Hosting and data: which cloud environments you use, where customer data is stored or processed, and any uptime, response-time, retention or recovery service levels you commit to.
- Financials and backlog: fiscal year-end statements, AR aging, deferred revenue, and a backlog / work-in-progress report covering active projects, service contracts and maintenance obligations.
- Bank letter: accounts, credit capacity and banking relationship. Ask your bank for a "surety reference letter".
Owners personally back contract bonds through an indemnity agreement, which is why the surety reads owner credit rather than only the company's. Standard on every contract surety program.
Applying now saves the scramble later.
The application is the same underwriting file as your eventual performance bond — which is why firms that start here close bonds so fast. Free, no obligation, and your limit is confirmed within 48 hours.
Start the application →Common questions.
Other Federal bonds.
Know your number before the next proposal.
Ten minutes now, free. A written limit within 48 hours. Your next bond is a request form and a contract.