Are subcontractors required to provide a payment bond performing work on a federal government construction project costing $80,000.00??
Typically for Federal Projects the minimum threshold for requiring General Contractors to obtain Payment and Performance Bonds is $100,000 projects. As a subcontractor, if you are required to post a payment bond, then that would likely be governed by the terms of you Agreement with the General Contractor. You should review your subcontract Agreement to determine if there are any bonding requirements imposed on your company, and also get a copy of the Prime Contract/bid advertisement from the public owner to see if they required any bonding from the General Contractor. If you are unfamiliar with the General Contractor's financial viability, and the GC was not required to post a payment bond, then you, as a subcontractor, may be taking on substantial risk in the event of non-payment.
There is no law requiring subcontractors on federal projects to furnish a payment and performance bond, but I have seen many gc's requiring their subcontractors to provide bonding as part of the subcontract requirements.