Of all the deadlines on a bonded federal job, the one-year limit is the one most often missed for the least interesting reason: people measure it from the wrong day.
What the statute actually says
40 U.S.C. § 3133(b)(4):
“no later than one year after the day on which the last of the labor was performed or material was supplied by the person bringing the action.”
The trigger is your own last contribution. Not the date of the invoice. Not the date payment fell due. Not the date the prime told you the money was coming. Not substantial completion, and not final acceptance of the project.
That distinction matters most for exactly the claimant who most needs the bond: a supplier who delivered early on a long job. Deliver the last of your material in month three of a thirty-month contract and your year expires while the job is still going — long before anyone would naturally think of the claim as stale.
Two clocks, not one
The one-year limit is a separate obligation from the notice requirement, and a second-tier claimant is subject to both.
| Obligation | Who owes it | Deadline | Runs from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Written notice to the prime | Second-tier claimants only (40 U.S.C. § 3133(b)(2)) | 90 days | Last labor performed or material supplied |
| Filing suit on the bond | Every claimant (40 U.S.C. § 3133(b)(4)) | One year | Last labor performed or material supplied |
Both run from the same event, which is convenient, and neither can be satisfied by doing the other. Giving notice does not extend the year. Filing suit does not cure a missing notice.
The states copied the structure, not the details
Because the Miller Act is the model, most state public-works bond statutes look similar at a glance. The details they changed are the ones that decide cases, and three states in our reading show how far the variation goes.
Maine runs the same year but writes an exception into it. Under 14 M.R.S. § 871 an action may not be commenced after one year from the last labor or material,
“except that in the case of a material supplier, when the amount of the claim is not ascertainable due to the unavailability of final quantity estimates, the action may be commenced before the expiration of one year from the date on which the final quantity estimates are determined.”
The same section also fixes the notice to a channel: it must be served by registered or certified mail, postage prepaid, addressed to the contractor at any place the contractor maintains an office, conducts business, or resides.
Oklahoma can give two years instead of one. Under 61 O.S. § 1 no action may be brought after one year from the last labor or material —
“unless a prior claim has been filed within one (1) year from the day on which the labor was performed or material or parts furnished, in which case, no action shall be brought on the bond after two (2) years”
so filing the claim inside the first year buys a second year to sue. That is a materially different position from the federal rule, and it rewards the claimant who files early even if they are not ready to litigate.
North Dakota starts its right of action from the same 90-day non-payment trigger the federal statute uses: under N.D.C.C. § 48-01.2-10, a person who furnished labor or material and has not been paid in full within ninety days after completing the contribution may sue on the bond for the amount unpaid at the time of institution of suit.
The notice channel is not always “written notice”
The federal statute says written notice and stops there. Several states say more.
Maine and North Dakota both specify registered mail (Maine adds certified), and both describe where it must be addressed — an office, a place of business, or a residence. South Carolina, under S.C. Code § 11-35-3030, adds a venue rule to the suit itself: every suit on a payment bond must be brought in the county or circuit where the construction contract was to be performed.
None of that is exotic drafting. It is the legislature deciding that a claimant should not be able to say “I told them” without a record, and it means an email to a project manager may satisfy nobody.
What this page does not do
It does not tell you your deadline. It tells you which sentence sets it, and that the sentence is usually shorter and earlier than people assume.
The federal rules above are the Miller Act and apply to federal contracts. On state or local public work, the state’s own statute governs, and this page quotes only four of them — the states whose provisions we have read in full. On private work there may be no statute at all and the bond form itself sets the terms.
If a deadline is close, that is a question for a construction lawyer in the relevant jurisdiction, not for a page on the internet.
