The 14-dimension weighted rubric GCs use to score every sub’s certificate of insurance against the subcontract: endorsements on file, limits adequacy, carrier rating, and expiration, rolled into one Pass / Conditional / Fail number per sub.
COI Compliance Score Card (Per Subcontractor)
Why a COI score card beats a clean stack of certificates
You can have a current certificate of insurance from every sub on the job and still be underinsured on half of them. The certificate proves a policy exists. It does not prove the policy does what your subcontract requires it to do. So a project administrator stares at a stack of clean-looking ACORD 25 forms, every box neatly typed, every date in the future, and has no fast way to answer the only question that matters: which of these subs is actually compliant, and which ones are a claim waiting to happen.
The certificate is the trap. The ACORD 25 is issued as a matter of information only. It says so on its own face: it confers no rights on the certificate holder and does not amend, extend, or alter the coverage afforded by the policies. A checkmark in the additional-insured box is a typist’s keystroke, not a coverage grant. The waiver-of-subrogation line can be checked on the cert while no waiver endorsement exists on the policy. The limits column can read a million dollars on a project that contractually demands two. None of that surfaces when you sort certificates by expiration date. It surfaces when something goes wrong, the prime tenders the claim, and the sub’s carrier denies it because the endorsement that was supposed to be there never was.
A score card fixes the gap between “has a certificate” and “is compliant.” Instead of one pass/fail flag per sub, it breaks compliance into the dimensions that actually decide whether coverage responds: required coverage types present, limits adequate against the contract, additional-insured endorsement on file for ongoing and completed operations, waiver of subrogation, primary and non-contributory wording, per-project aggregate where the contract requires it, carrier financial strength, and expiration status. Each dimension gets scored. The scores roll up into a single weighted number per sub, and the number sorts the portfolio: who passes, who is conditional, who gets a stop-work conversation before they pour another yard of concrete.
One thing to be honest about up front: there is no legal “passing score” for a COI. No regulation says a sub is compliant at 85 and non-compliant at 84. The score is a management aid, not a statutory standard. The point of the weights and the threshold is that your firm decides, once, what a compliant sub looks like, writes it down, and then applies it the same way to every sub on every project instead of re-litigating it cert by cert. That consistency is the whole value. It turns a subjective binder review into a repeatable, auditable, delegate-able process. Configure the weights to match your own subcontract requirements, set your own pass threshold, and run every sub through the same scoring rubric.
If you run COI compliance across a portfolio, the scorecard is the operator artifact and our COI tracking software is the system that runs it automatically at scale.
Who this score card is for
- Federal general contractors scoring every sub’s COI against FAR-flowed and subcontract-mandated insurance requirements
- Mid-market and commercial GCs managing insurance flow-down to owners and lenders across a portfolio of subs
- Risk managers and compliance officers who need a defensible, repeatable rubric instead of a gut-feel binder review
- Project administrators running weekly COI passes who need to triage which subs to chase first
- Prequalification teams scoring incoming sub insurance during onboarding, before the subcontract is signed
- Insurance brokers and consultants advising primes on which sub certificates clear the contract and which fall short
If you want the upstream line-item review that feeds this score, the ACORD 25 review checklist for federal projects is the form-by-form pass that determines how each dimension below scores.
The 14 dimensions the score card scores
The score card scores 14 dimensions for every subcontractor, each weighted and rolled into one compliance number per sub. Configure the weights and the pass threshold to your own subcontract requirements:
- Named insured matches the subcontract Score whether the named insured on the certificate is the exact legal entity that signed the subcontract, character for character. “ABC Inc.” and “ABC Construction LLC” are different entities to a claims adjuster, and a mismatch can void coverage on a tender no matter how clean the rest of the cert looks. Score full match, DBA/parent mismatch, or wrong entity, and weight this high because it is the cheapest dimension to verify and the most expensive to get wrong.
- Required coverage types all present Score whether every policy the subcontract requires actually appears on the certificate: commercial general liability, auto liability, workers’ compensation and employers’ liability, umbrella or excess, and any trade-specific lines like professional or pollution liability. A missing line is not a deduction, it is a gap. Score one point per required line present and flag any required line absent as an automatic conditional, because a sub with no auto policy on a job that runs trucks is uninsured for the most common loss on the site.
- CGL limits adequate against the contract Score the commercial general liability each-occurrence and general aggregate limits against what the subcontract demands, not against a generic baseline. A common federal-prime baseline is one million per occurrence and two million aggregate, with higher-risk trades pushed to two and four, but the only number that matters is the one written into the subcontract. Score full adequacy, partial (one limit short), or inadequate, and remember that the certificate’s limit column is informational until you confirm the policy actually carries it.
- Per-project or per-location aggregate present where required Score whether the CGL aggregate is dedicated to this project when the contract requires it. Without a per-project aggregate endorsement such as the CG 25 03 designated-construction-project form, one general aggregate is shared across every job the sub is running, so a large claim on someone else’s project can quietly exhaust the limit protecting yours. Score present, not-required, or required-but-missing, and weight it for the projects where the owner mandates a dedicated aggregate.
- Additional insured for ongoing operations Score whether the sub’s CGL adds your firm as additional insured for ongoing operations via a real endorsement, not a checked box. The CG 20 10 endorsement (in its modern editions) covers liability arising out of the sub’s ongoing operations while the crew is on site. The certificate box claims it; the endorsement form proves it. Score endorsement-on-file, box-checked-only, or absent, and treat box-checked-only as conditional because the box alone confers nothing.
- Additional insured for completed operations Score whether additional-insured status extends past substantial completion. The CG 20 37 endorsement covers liability arising from the sub’s completed work, which is the exposure that shows up years later as a construction-defect claim. Older CG 20 10 editions once reached completed operations, but modern ongoing-operations editions do not, so the completed-operations grant generally needs its own endorsement. Score it separately from dimension 5, because a sub can be perfectly covered while on site and leave you naked for the warranty tail.
- Waiver of subrogation in your favor Score whether the sub’s carrier has waived its right to come after your firm to recover what it pays on a claim. The CG 24 04 endorsement is the common CGL waiver-of-subrogation form, and a matching workers’-comp waiver is usually required separately. The certificate line can be checked while no waiver endorsement exists on the policy, so score endorsement-on-file versus box-only, and require the actual form for any sub on a project where your subcontract mandates the waiver.
- Primary and non-contributory wording Score whether the sub’s coverage is written to pay first, before and without contribution from your firm’s own policy. The CG 20 01 endorsement addresses the primary-and-non-contributory other-insurance condition, and it is a separate grant from additional-insured status and from the waiver. A sub can be an additional insured whose coverage still sits excess of yours, which defeats the entire point of the flow-down. Score the endorsement-on-file, box-only, or absent, and verify it is not silently bundled into a combined endorsement you have not actually read.
- Carrier financial strength rating Score the rating of each insurer issuing the certificate, verified at A.M. Best on the date of review. A common construction-contract requirement is A- or better with a financial size category of VII or larger, though the exact threshold belongs in your subcontract, and definitions vary by edition so confirm the current bands at the source. A clean certificate from a weakly rated or non-admitted carrier is a conditional, not a pass, because a policy is only as good as the company standing behind it when the claim lands.
- Endorsement copies actually on file Score whether you are holding the actual endorsement forms, not just a certificate that references them. This is the dimension most COI reviews skip and the one auditors check first. For every endorsement scored in dimensions 5 through 8, score whether the real form (CG 20 10, CG 20 37, CG 24 04, CG 20 01, and any state workers’-comp waiver) is in the file. A sub with every box checked and zero endorsement copies on file is a conditional until the forms arrive, because the certificate is information only and the endorsement is the coverage.
- Policy effective and expiration dates valid Score whether every required policy was effective before the sub mobilized and remains unexpired today. The effective date confirms coverage was in force when work began; the expiration date drives the renewal clock. Score current, expiring-soon (inside your renewal window), or expired, and treat any expired required line as an automatic fail regardless of how the other dimensions score, because a perfect rubric on a lapsed policy is a perfect score on no coverage at all.
- Cancellation-notice provision consistent with the contract Score whether the cancellation language the subcontract requires is actually deliverable. Modern ACORD certificates state that notice of cancellation will be delivered in accordance with the policy provisions, and insurers will not typically endorse a flat unconditional notice obligation to a certificate holder. Score whether the sub has secured a notice-of-cancellation endorsement where the contract requires one, or flag the contract clause as practically unenforceable so your team stops relying on a notice that will never come.
- Description of operations ties to this project Score whether the certificate’s description-of-operations box references the correct project, subcontract number, or scope, rather than a generic blanket statement. A cert that names the wrong project, or names none, weakens the additional-insured and waiver grants that are often written to apply only as required by written contract. Score project-specific, blanket-acceptable, or mismatched, and require a corrected cert for any sub whose description names a different job.
- Overall weighted compliance score and disposition The roll-up. Each dimension above is scored, multiplied by your configured weight, and summed into a single number per sub, then mapped to a disposition: Pass, Conditional (compliant once a named item is cured), or Fail (do not mobilize or stop work). This is the column the project administrator sorts on every Monday and the column the risk manager defends in an audit. Set the threshold and the weights once at the firm level, write them into your insurance-compliance policy, and apply the same rubric to every sub so the score means the same thing on every project.
How to set the rubric and score every sub the same way
Set the rubric once, then score every sub the same way. Start by configuring the weights in the scoring sheet to match your own subcontract: most firms weight named-insured match, required-coverage-present, limits adequacy, and the additional-insured endorsements highest, and weight description-of-operations and cancellation language lower. Set your pass threshold and write both the weights and the threshold into your firm’s insurance-compliance policy so the score is defensible and consistent.
For each sub, pull the complete COI package: the ACORD 25 plus the actual endorsement forms. Score dimensions 1 through 13 against the package, not against the certificate alone, since the whole point is to catch box-checked-but-not-endorsed gaps. The weighted score and disposition in dimension 14 calculate automatically in the Excel version. Sort the portfolio by disposition, work the Fails first with a stop-work or do-not-mobilize conversation, cure the Conditionals by requesting the specific missing endorsement, and re-score on every renewal and at least quarterly so a sub that drops coverage mid-cycle does not stay a Pass on paper.
Stop scoring certificates by hand
Scoring 14 dimensions across a portfolio of subs by hand is a half-time job, and it is the half that gets skipped the week everyone is busy. Contracts Connected’s COI Analyzer reads every certificate and endorsement the moment a sub sends it in, extracts the named insured, coverage types, limits, endorsements, carrier, and dates, scores each one against your configured subcontract requirements, and surfaces the Pass, Conditional, and Fail dispositions without a project administrator touching a spreadsheet. The same rubric you set here, running automatically on every sub on every project, with the audit trail built as it goes. The score card shows you what compliant looks like; the analyzer makes every sub get scored the same way without anyone falling behind.
For educational purposes. These templates, checklists, trackers, and score cards are operator-built starting points designed to help you move faster on the kind of work that usually drowns construction admins in email chains. They are not legal, insurance, accounting, or tax advice. There is no legal “passing score” for a certificate of insurance. This score card is an internal management aid your firm configures to its own subcontract requirements. Each project, jurisdiction, and contract has its own quirks. Review the document, refine the weights, and consult your attorney, broker, CPA, or compliance officer before relying on it for a live project decision.
Frequently asked questions about COI compliance score cards
What is a COI compliance score card and how is it different from a checklist?
A checklist gives you one pass or fail per sub: every item is checked, or it is not. A score card breaks compliance into weighted dimensions, scores each one, and rolls them into a single number so you can rank a whole portfolio of subs by how compliant they actually are. The difference matters when you have fifty subs and limited time, because the score tells you who to chase first and lets you accept a sub who is strong on the high-weight dimensions while you cure a low-weight gap. It also makes the review repeatable and delegate-able: anyone on the team scores the same sub the same way.
Is there an official passing score for a certificate of insurance?
No. There is no regulation, statute, or insurance standard that defines a numeric passing score for a COI. Compliance is binary in the eyes of a claim: either the required coverage and endorsements exist or they do not. The score card is an internal management aid that your firm configures to its own subcontract requirements. You decide the weights, you decide the threshold, and the value is that you then apply that decision consistently to every sub instead of re-judging each certificate from scratch. Treat the number as a triage and audit tool, never as a legal determination of coverage.
Why isn’t a checked additional-insured box enough to score a pass?
Because the ACORD 25 certificate is issued as a matter of information only and confers no rights on the certificate holder. It states on its own face that it does not amend, extend, or alter the coverage in the policies. The additional-insured box is a description of what the policy is supposed to do, not the grant itself. The grant lives in the endorsement, typically a CG 20 10 for ongoing operations and a CG 20 37 for completed operations. So a checked box with no endorsement on file scores as conditional, not pass, until you are holding the actual endorsement form. This single distinction is the most common reason a compliant-looking sub turns out to be uninsured when a claim is tendered.
How should I weight the scoring dimensions?
Weight the dimensions that decide whether coverage responds the highest: named-insured match, required-coverage-types present, limits adequacy against the contract, and the additional-insured and primary-and-non-contributory endorsements. Weight administrative dimensions like description-of-operations wording and cancellation language lower, since they affect enforceability at the margins rather than whether the policy pays. The right weights are the ones that mirror your own subcontract, so set them with your risk manager or broker, write them into your insurance-compliance policy, and keep them stable across projects so the score stays comparable from sub to sub.
Does carrier rating belong in the score?
Yes. A pristine certificate from a weakly rated insurer is a real exposure, because a policy is only as strong as the company standing behind it when the claim lands. Many construction contracts require an A.M. Best rating of A- or better with a financial size category of VII or larger, though the exact threshold should come from your own subcontract and the rating bands should be confirmed at A.M. Best on the date of review since definitions vary by edition. Score the rating as its own dimension and treat a sub-threshold or non-admitted carrier as a conditional that needs sign-off, not an automatic pass just because the limits and endorsements check out.
How often should I re-score a subcontractor?
Re-score on every renewal and at least quarterly, even when no renewal is in flight. Subs change carriers mid-cycle, drop endorsements without telling the prime, move to a lower-rated insurer, or let a required line lapse, and none of that announces itself. A score is a snapshot of the day you reviewed the package, so a sub who scored a Pass in January can be a Conditional by April without anything visible changing on your end. Tie re-scoring to the expiration clock for renewals and to a fixed quarterly cadence for everything else, and keep the dated score history as part of your audit trail.