I am new here and I see that in the past they didn't send notice to bonding company. I'm thinking they should know as well that we are a contractor potentially requesting their assistance. Am I correct?
You will want to confirm with your customer, but most military projects are federal meaning notice requirments are governed by the Miller Act. There is no preliminary notice requirment on a federal project.
If your contract is directly with the the general contractor, there are no special notice requirements in order to maintain an action against the Miller Act payment bond. If you are a lower tier subcontractor or material supplier you are required to provide notice of any claim to the general contractor within 90-days of your last furnishing of labor or material to the project .
If this not a federal project, then you would need to provide preliminary notice unless you have a direct contractual relationship with the direct contractor. But preliminary notice still does not need to be sent to the surety. Preliminary notice is only required to be sent to the public entity and the direct contractor . There is a special additional requirement if the work was commissioned by the Department of Public Works or the Department of General Services for California, such that the notice must be given to the disbursing officer of the department construction work specifically.
If you require legal assistance, email me at ryan@huntortmann.com for a free telephone consultation.