ACORD 50 (Surety Bond Application)
The standard ACORD application form for surety bond requests covering contract, commercial, and court surety bonds.
What It Is
The ACORD 50 is the standard application form for surety bonds. It captures the principal's information, type of bond requested (contract, commercial, or court), bond amount, obligee information, and the principal's financial data including net worth, working capital, and banking relationships.
For contract surety bonds (bid, performance, and payment bonds), the ACORD 50 also captures information about the principal's construction experience, largest completed project, work in progress, and bonding history.
The form serves as the primary submission document to surety carriers and is often accompanied by financial statements, a work-in-progress schedule, and the contract documents for the specific project being bonded.
Why It Matters for Brokers
Surety bonds are a distinct product line that requires specialized knowledge. The ACORD 50 provides the structured framework for presenting a surety submission, but the quality of the supporting information determines whether the bond is approved. Brokerages that handle surety accounts must master the ACORD 50 and understand the financial analysis that surety underwriters perform. A well-prepared surety submission can be the difference between a contractor winning or losing a project bid.
Real-World Example
A general contractor needs a $5M performance and payment bond for a municipal building project. The broker completes the ACORD 50 with the contractor's information, project details, and bond amount, then attaches the contractor's CPA-reviewed financial statements, a work-in-progress schedule showing $12M in backlog, and the contract documents. The surety carrier approves the bond within 5 business days based on the complete submission.
Common Mistakes
- 1Submitting the ACORD 50 without current financial statements, which is the primary document surety underwriters need to evaluate capacity.
- 2Not providing a work-in-progress schedule that shows the contractor's current commitments and available bonding capacity.
- 3Misidentifying the bond type (e.g., requesting a bid bond when the project requires a performance and payment bond).
How brokerageaudit.com Handles This
Submission Intake provides surety-specific workflows for the ACORD 50, including financial data validation and automatic attachment of required supporting documents from the client's file.