Learn About The Law
Get help with your legal needs
FindLaw’s Learn About the Law features thousands of informational articles to help you understand your options. And if you’re ready to hire an attorney, find one in your area who can help.
Current as of January 01, 2025 | Updated by Findlaw Staff
Subdivision 1. Citation. (a) Sections 574.26to574.32are the “Public Contractors' Performance and Payment Bond Act,” within those sections referred to as “the act.”
(b) For the purposes of the act:
(1) “public body” means the state, municipal corporation, school district, or other public board or body; and
(2) “labor and materials” means work, skill, tools, machinery, materials, insurance premiums, equipment or supplies, or taxes incurred undersection 290.92, chapter 268, or 297A; and
(3) “contract” means a contract with a public body for the doing of public work.
Subd. 1a. Exemptions: certain manufacturers; commissioner of transportation; road maintenance. (a) Sections 574.26to574.32do not apply to a manufacturer of public transit buses that manufactures at least 100 public transit buses in a calendar year. For purposes of this section, “public transit bus” means a motor vehicle designed to transport people, with a design capacity for carrying more than 40 passengers, including the driver. The term “public transit bus” does not include a school bus, as defined insection 169.011, subdivision 71.
(b) At the discretion of the commissioner of transportation,sections 574.26to574.32do not apply to any projects of the Department of Transportation (1) costing less than the amount insection 471.345, subdivision 3, (2)involving the permanent or semipermanent installation of heavy machinery, fixtures, or other capital equipment to be used primarily for maintenance or repair, or (3) awarded undersection 161.32, subdivision 2.
(c) Sections 574.26to574.32do not apply to contracts for snow removal, ice removal, grading, or other similar routine road maintenance on town roads.
Subd. 2. Terms. Except as provided insections 574.263and574.264or if the amount of the contract is less than the amount insection 471.345, subdivision 3, a contract with a public body for the doing of any public work is not valid unless the contractor gives (1) a performance bond to the public body with whom the contractor entered into the contract, for the use and benefit of the public body to complete the contract according to its terms, and conditioned on saving the public body harmless from all costs and charges that may accrue on account of completing the specified work, and (2) a payment bond for the use and benefit of all persons furnishing labor and materials engaged under, or to perform the contract, conditioned for the payment, as they become due, of all just claims for the labor and materials. Reasonable attorneys' fees, costs, and disbursements may be awarded in an action to enforce claims under the act if the action is successfully maintained or successfully appealed.
Subd. 3. Penalty. The penalty of each bond must not be less than the contract price, and if after the giving of the bond the contract price is increased, for any reason, the public body may require additional bonds, the penalties of which shall be not less than the amount of the increase, and if the additional bonds are not furnished within ten days after demand, the work on the contract shall cease until the additional bonds are furnished. In contracts made by the commissioner of administration or the Department of Transportation of the state, the commissioner of administration or the commissioner of transportation, respectively, may fix the amount of the bond penalty, but at not less than three-quarters of the contract price.
Cite this article: FindLaw.com - Minnesota Statutes Postjudgment Remedies; Alternative Dispute Resolution; Bonds (Ch. 570-583) § 574.26. Contractors' bonds for public work - last updated January 01, 2025 | https://codes.findlaw.com/mn/postjudgment-remedies-alternative-dispute-resolution-bonds-ch-570-583/mn-st-sect-574-26/
FindLaw Codes may not reflect the most recent version of the law in your jurisdiction. Please verify the status of the code you are researching with the state legislature before relying on it for your legal needs.
A free source of state and federal court opinions, state laws, and the United States Code. For more information about the legal concepts addressed by these cases and statutes, visit FindLaw’s Learn About the Law.
Get help with your legal needs
FindLaw’s Learn About the Law features thousands of informational articles to help you understand your options. And if you’re ready to hire an attorney, find one in your area who can help.
Search our directory by legal issue
Enter information in one or both fields (Required)