We are the CG on 2 public school projects in Ohio. The projects that are already recently started, but I cannot locate Notices of Commencement on the respective county recorders' websites. Should I still file a NOF immediately or wait to see if the produce an NOC? Since we are the GC should we file the NOC in 10 days if the NOC does not appear to be filed? Or would we need to be specifically asked by the school to be an Owner Designee? In that case should we also file an NOF or just NOC? Also do I need to obtain bond information and how? We are bonded, but I'm not sure, should the need arise, how we would make a claim against the public bond without the info. Thanks!
The question regarding the notice of commencement is interesting, because unlike private projects, Ohio's mechanic's lien law actually mandates the preparation of notices of commencement on public projects. However, the law does not mandate the recording of those notices. It does not appear that the GC or owner's designee can prepare the notice of commencement. Instead, the public authority is tasked with preparing the notice of commencement. I would reach out to the authority and ask if they have complied with R.C. 1311.252.
Your question regarding notices of furnishing is much more straightforward (assuming you contracted directly with the public authority). If you are the principal contractor, and under contract directly with the public authority doing the work, then you do not need to serve a notice of furnishing. In fact, on public projects in Ohio, subcontractors and material suppliers who contract directly with the principal contractor (which appears to be you in this instance, principal contractor and general contractor have the same meaning) also do not need to serve a notice of furnishing. Only sub-subs, and other lower-tier contractors and suppliers need to serve a notice of furnishing on a public project.
As a GC you would not need to serve a notice of furnishing on private projects either, assuming your contract was with the owner of those projects. However, on private projects all subcontractors and suppliers do need to serve a notice of furnishing to protect their lien rights (assuming the owner or GC file a notice of commencement for the private project).
As for the bond question, you likely complied with the statute and bond requirements with your bid. Ordinarily, GCs (or PCs as they are known on public projects) submit a "bid bond". The bid bond must be sufficient to cover the payment and performance bond requirements for the project (typically the performance and payment bonds are each in the amount of 100% of the contract amount for the project, so the total bonding capacity is 200% of the contract amount). Then once the public authority enters into a contract with the PC, the bid bond is automatically converted into the performance and payment bonds. So it is likely that your surety knew this and issued a bid bond in sufficient capacity and you do not have to worry about the bond. Further, you are the bonding party, not the public authority. There is no bond for you to collect on. Instead, you collect against the authority, which does not need a bond because they are a public authority and are assumed to be good for it.