ASA Secures Miller Act Exemption from Inflationary Increases in the FY22 NDAA

Last year, Congress passed the FY22 defense spending bill that includes the Miller Act exemption from inflationary increase.  On December 28, 2021, President Biden signed it into law and maintaining Miller Act bond threshold at $150,000 is big win for small business contractors.  ASA commends Congress for passing S. 1605, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2022 and including a provision in the bill that removes the Miller Act from periodic threshold increases based on inflation, which has been a legislative priority for ASA more than a decade. On Wednesday, December 15, 2021, the U.S. Senate, by a vote of 89-10, concurred with the House by passing S. 1605. The U.S. House of Representatives had passed S.1605 by a vote of 363-70 on December 7, arbitrarily increasing the Miller Act bond threshold based on inflation exposes businesses, including smaller and disadvantaged businesses working as subcontractors and suppliers, to loss of vital payment protections on federal construction projects. Maintaining the bond threshold at $150,000 protects U.S. taxpayers by ensuring tax dollars are not being placed in jeopardy by the absence of performance bonds due to a rote inflationary indexing.