Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), the nation’s largest merit shop trade association for construction contractors, and The Surety & Fidelity Association of America (SFAA), a trade association consisting of companies that collectively write the majority of surety and fidelity bonds in the United States, recently entered into a joint resolution that reflects the organizations’ years of working together on areas of mutual interest and reaffirms their respective commitments to continue to strengthen this relationship.
"The SFAA is very pleased to be formalizing our work with ABC on the issue of diversity in the construction and surety industries," says Lynn Schubert, president of SFAA. "SFAA and ABC have been acting as partners on this issue for many years, and we have accomplished much. However, there is much left to do, and we look forward to increased joint activities through the new memorandum of understanding (MOU)."
Since 2002, SFAA has represented the surety industry on the ABC National Diversity Committee as part of its ongoing commitment to work with insurance and construction groups interested in diversity issues, challenges and opportunities.
While serving on the committee, SFAA has been involved in developing and implementing ABC’s Excellence in Diversity initiative, which provides ABC members and chapters with the tools to objectively evaluate their diversity programs, policies and procedures. Furthermore, the effort allows selected ABC member companies and chapters to showcase and share best practices with each other. As a committee member, SFAA was instrumental in facilitating the signing of a joint resolution between ABC and the National Association of Minority Contractors (NAMC).
"ABC looks forward to working more closely with SFAA," says Kirk Pickerel, ABC president and CEO. "ABC members stand to gain valuable insight into the bonding process from the real experts in the bonding industry."
The signing of the ABC/SFAA joint resolution occurred in Long Beach, Calif., as part of the ABC Institute for Leadership and Professional Development, Nov. 12-13. The ABC/SFAA joint resolution will focus on:
- encouraging and helping facilitate joint educational and training programs for small and emerging contractors among ABC local chapters, local surety associations, and other local trade associations and organizations;
- developing and implementing bonding assistance programs such as SFAA’s Model Contractor Development Program (MCDP) to help small and emerging contractors increase their subcontracting and joint venture opportunities with ABC member firms;
- supporting the use of mentor-protégé programs to expose small and emerging contractors to skills, techniques and resources that enhance their capabilities and capacity; and
- working jointly to monitor mutually relevant national and state legislation and to actively network on issues of common understanding and support.
Intern Program
The committee also is exploring the possibility of ABC utilizing the SFAA/INROADS model to identify and place minority students as interns with ABC member construction firms.
The surety intern program is a joint effort of SFAA and INROADS Inc., the premier college intern program in the nation focused on training minorities for management positions in Fortune 1,000 companies.
The current SFAA/INROADS program is based on the premise that the best way to attract talented minorities and women is to expose them to an industry. Since 2003, the SFAA/INROADS program has placed more than 50 qualified minority scholars into the surety industry in summer intern positions with the expectation that the majority will consider surety and fidelity underwriting as a career once they complete their studies.