This synthesis will be of interest to administrators, contracting officers, engineers, and contractors, as well as bonding firms and sureties or others involved with highway construction and the procurement process for these services. Information is provided on the current practices used by state highway agencies to qualify contractors for performing competitively bid contract work. The synthesis covers the evolution of the various practices of qualifying contractors by public agencies and private sureties for public construction, discusses the surety industry perspective, and addresses the areas of overlap between them, as well as the important differences. Specific advantages and disadvantages of prequalification and postqualification practices are highlighted. This report of the Transportation Research Board also describes the bonding process, methods used by public agencies to determine the contractor's bonding capacity, and the extent to which only bonding is required by states.