News

For Immediate Release May 11, 2009 SureTec named U. S. Small Business Administration’s Surety Partner of the Year Houston, Texas (May 11, 2009): SureTec announced today that it has been honored by the U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”) as the recipient of the 2009 SBA Surety Partner of the Year. SureTec will be recognized at the National Small Business Week celebration to be held in Washington, D.C., May 17-19, 2009 In recognizing SureTec’s achievement, Karen Mills, Administrator for the SBA, applauded SureTec’s “hard work, innovative ideas, and dedication to the community.” As one of the participants in the SBA’s Preferred Surety Bond Program (“PSB” or “Plan B”), SureTec is authorized to issue, monitor and service bonds without prior SBA approval. This allows us to respond in a timely fashion to small businesses and to provide bonding to those that might otherwise be unable to obtain bonding in the traditional surety marketplace. With the recent American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, bonds can now be written in this program for amounts up to $5,000,000, up from the previous limit of $2,000,000. Bob Cave, Executive Vice President of Underwriting for SureTec commented, “The SBA Surety Bond Guarantee Program is a major tool we use to enhance a contractor’s bondability. Every day, we participate in creating opportunities for small and emerging contractors and subcontractors. We are honored by the SBA’s recognition of our accomplishments and pleased to partner with the SBA in this very worthwhile public-private partnership.” SureTec, through independent agents and professional surety producers, specializes in underwriting small-to-mid-size contract bonds and commercial surety. Underwriting from the perspective of “Finding a Responsible Way to say Yes in Partnership with Professional Producers” is the fundamental cornerstone of SureTec. For more information on SureTec, please visit our web site at www.suretec.com or contact us at (888) 344-3362. For more information on the SBA’s Surety Bond Guarantee Program, visit the SBA’s web site at www.sba.gov  Bill King President (713) 812-0800 bking@suretec.com  * * * * *