Idaho’s public-works bond statute is worth reading closely for one reason: the penal sum. Nearly every state in the country fixes the bond at the full contract amount or at a clean fraction of it. Idaho picks a number that appears nowhere else.
One threshold, and it includes the number itself
Idaho Code § 54-1926 opens with the trigger and then lists the bonds. The threshold clause:
“Before any contract equal to or greater than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) for the construction, alteration, or repair of any public building or public work or improvement of the state of Idaho, or of any county, city, town, municipal corporation, township, school district, public educational institution, or other political subdivision, public authority, or public instrumentality … is executed, the person to whom such contract was awarded shall furnish … bonds that shall become binding upon the execution of the contract”
Two details in that sentence do real work.
“Equal to or greater than.” Most state bond statutes are written as “exceeding” or “in excess of,” which excludes the threshold figure itself. Idaho’s wording includes it, so a contract struck at exactly the threshold is inside the requirement rather than one dollar outside it. It is a small distinction that has decided arguments.
One threshold for both bonds. Unlike the states that split their triggers, Idaho attaches performance and payment bonds to the same figure. Above it you owe both; below it, neither is compelled by this section.
The list of covered bodies is also broad by design — the state, counties, cities, towns, municipal corporations, townships, school districts, public educational institutions, other political subdivisions, public authorities and public instrumentalities, and the officers, boards, commissions, institutions and agencies of any of them. It is drafted to leave few public buyers outside it.
Eighty-five percent
The performance bond clause, at § 54-1926(1):
“A performance bond in any amount to be fixed by the contracting body, but in no event less than eighty-five percent (85%) of the contract amount conditioned upon the faithful performance of the contract in accordance with the plans, specifications and conditions thereof.”
And the payment bond, at § 54-1926(2), repeats the figure:
“A payment bond in an amount to be fixed by the contracting body but in no event less than eighty-five percent (85%) of the contract amount, solely for the protection of persons supplying labor or materials, or renting, leasing, or otherwise supplying equipment to the contractor or his subcontractors in the prosecution of the work provided for in such contract.”
Across the 48 states we write in, we found no other public-works bond statute that sets its penal sum at that figure. Statutes cluster at the full contract amount, or at a defined lower fraction. Idaho sits between the two, alone.
Why the exact wording matters more than the number
“In no event less than” is a floor on the contracting body’s discretion. It is not the penal sum.
The clause that governs the actual figure is the one before it: the bond is “in any amount to be fixed by the contracting body.” The body may fix the bond at the full contract amount, and many do. What the statute forbids is fixing it lower than the floor.
For a contractor, that has a direct consequence: you cannot compute your bond from § 54-1926. You read the solicitation. A guide that reports Idaho as an “85 percent state” has told you the least the bond can be, which is useful, and has not told you what your bond will be, which is what you needed.
For a subcontractor, the floor is the more interesting half. On an Idaho public job the payment bond behind you cannot be a token amount — it is at least that share of the contract, by statute, and it exists “solely for the protection of persons supplying labor or materials, or renting, leasing, or otherwise supplying equipment.”
Equipment is named
That last clause deserves separate attention, because it is broader than the usual formulation. Idaho’s payment bond expressly reaches persons “renting, leasing, or otherwise supplying equipment to the contractor or his subcontractors.” Many payment bond statutes are written around labor and materials and leave equipment rental to be argued about. Idaho names it in the statute.
If you rent equipment onto Idaho public jobs, that is a materially better position than the equivalent supplier occupies in a state whose statute is silent on the point.
Bid security: four forms of equal standing
Section 54-1926 compels the bonds. It says nothing about what accompanies the bid, and that rule lives in a different title — Idaho Code § 67-2805(2), the procurement provision for political subdivisions.
The first thing Idaho Code § 67-2805(2) does is decline to compel anything:
“If the political subdivision deems it is in the political subdivision’s best interest, it may require the bidder to provide bid security in an amount equal to at least five percent (5%) of the amount bid.”
So the structure is the reverse of the bonds. Idaho requires performance and payment bonds above fifty thousand dollars and leaves bid security to the body’s judgment — and where the body does ask for it, the floor is 5 percent of the bid, under Idaho Code § 67-2805(2).
The second thing it does is the useful part, and we have not found a cleaner statement of it anywhere else:
“The political subdivision may require that the bid security be in one (1) of the following forms: (A) Cash; (B) A cashier’s check made payable to the political subdivision; (C) A certified check made payable to the political subdivision; or (D) A bidder’s bond executed by a qualified surety company, made payable to the political subdivision.”
Four forms, lettered, in one sentence, and the statute ranks none of them. Cash, a cashier’s check, a certified check and a bidder’s bond are alternatives of equal standing under Idaho Code § 67-2805(2).
Equal in the statute is not equal at your bank. Three of the four are money leaving your account on the day you bid and coming back after the award; the fourth is an undertaking by a surety, which costs a fraction of the figure and ties up none of it. At the 5 percent floor Idaho Code § 67-2805(2) sets, that is the difference between the money being in the job and the money being with the agency. Which of the four you post is your decision, unless the solicitation narrows it — the statute permits the body to require one of the following forms, so read what the notice actually asks for.
What this section does not settle is withdrawal. The provision goes on to address bids being withdrawn after a date, and the span we recovered breaks off mid-sentence, so this page does not state Idaho’s withdrawal rule.
What this section does not tell you
Section 54-1926 is the triggering and amount provision. It does not set the bid security rule for Idaho public work — that is Idaho Code § 67-2805(2), read in the section above — and it does not contain the claim mechanics — the notice a claimant must give, to whom, and the deadline for suit on the bond. Those are elsewhere, and we have not read them for this page, so it does not state them.
That gap is worth naming rather than papering over. If you are pursuing an unpaid claim on an Idaho public job, the timing rules are the part that will decide it, and they are not on this page.
Getting the bonds
Both bonds become binding on execution of the contract and are furnished before it is executed, so on an Idaho public award they are a condition of getting started. Because the penal sum is fixed by the contracting body rather than by formula, the useful thing to send a surety along with your financials is the solicitation itself — the bond amount is in there.
We write performance and payment bonds in Idaho, along with the contractor license, permit and bid bonds Idaho’s state agencies and local jurisdictions require.
