Great question, and it's one we get pretty often here at the Expert Center. Generally, publicly owned projects (like state, county, or city projects) are not susceptible to lien claims - public property isn't subject to mechanics liens. Rather, for public jobs, payment bond claims typically provide similar protection to mechanics liens.
When providing work on public jobs, general contractors are generally required to post a surety bond that guarantees all subs and suppliers will be paid on the job. This is done because, as mentioned above, lien claims aren't available to secure a sub or supplier's right to payment. Rather than payment security coming via a right to the property, claimants on public projects have their payment guaranteed by that surety bond (called a "payment bond") which more or less acts like an insurance policy ensuring that claimants will be paid by the company providing the bond if the contractor can't make payment.
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