Background

The surety industry faces the increasingly difficult challenge of providing surety credit to contractors that do not generate significant premium volume to justify the underwriting expense given the probability of severity of loss. Recent adverse underwriting results have made a great many qualified contractors unqualified for surety credit not by themselves, but in the cost and statistical risk factors associated generically.

Goal: To respond to the challenge of a negative statistical risk factor qualified contractors must be able to quantifiably demonstrate their qualifications. By recognizing the resources available to quantify a risk, those who understand those resources best will be able to differentiate themselves, and be offered the opportunity to participate in public works to their full potential. Our goal is to not only help qualified contractors reach their full potential, but for the surety industry to be able to provide a surety program to a very qualified group of clients at a profit margin that increases their participation in that market segment.

Reality Check: The ever increasing analytical capabilities of surety applications to digest information to screen for statistical risk factors is a reality. Another reality is that those systems are only as effective as the quality of data being analyzed, and that more data is becoming ever more available. Data, while cold in nature, is an asset quality contractors can use to demonstrate their induvidual merits, and the ability to harness that data will, for those who deserve the credit, provide access to the credit they deserve.

The CSU Chico Class Project: To assist Surety Resource Connection in developing a method allowing independent analytical tools, like Project Status Connection, to provide services as efficiently as possible for the benefit of those that deserve it while promoting "open" competitive delivery of those services.