Start with identity and dates
Producer
The PRODUCER box identifies the agency or broker that issued the certificate and normally gives the best contact for a correction. Record the name, address, phone, and email exactly as shown. The email address or domain alone does not prove authenticity; it is a routing clue, not verification.
Insured
Match the named insured with the subcontracting entity. Pay attention to LLCs, DBAs, parent companies, and similarly named affiliates. A certificate for a related company is not automatically evidence about the entity on the subcontract.
Certificate date and number
The issue date tells you when this certificate was prepared. The certificate number and revision number can help distinguish replacements, but they are not policy numbers and do not establish that the underlying policy remains in force.
Insurers and NAIC numbers
The letter beside each coverage line points to an insurer listed in the upper-right table. Record the insurer name and NAIC number when present. A blank NAIC field is missing data, not proof that the insurer is unlicensed or invalid.
The ACORD 25 does not print an A.M. Best rating. If the contract requires a financial-strength rating, verify it through the rating provider or another source your company accepts.
Read the coverage grid one line at a time
Commercial general liability
Capture each occurrence, damage to rented premises, medical expense, personal and advertising injury, general aggregate, and products/completed-operations aggregate separately. Do not treat the aggregate as another occurrence limit. Note whether the policy is shown as claims-made or occurrence and whether a per-project aggregate endorsement is requested.
Automobile liability
Record the combined single limit or the separate bodily-injury and property-damage limits. Note the symbols or checked categories for owned, hired, and non-owned autos. The required combination depends on the contract and the subcontractor’s driving exposure.
Umbrella or excess liability
Capture the each-occurrence and aggregate limits, policy dates, and whether the form indicates occurrence or claims-made. The certificate does not prove how the policy follows form, what it excludes, or exactly which underlying policies it sits above.
Workers compensation and employers liability
Workers compensation is usually marked statutory. Employers liability has dollar fields for each accident, disease policy limit, and disease per employee. A marked box does not resolve every jurisdiction, worker classification, or exclusion.
Other coverage
Professional liability, pollution, cyber, railroad protective, installation floater, and other project-specific lines can appear in the OTHER row or the description area. Capture the named coverage, limit, deductible or retention if shown, dates, and any attached schedule.
Treat endorsements as documents, not checkboxes
The ADDL INSD and SUBR WVD columns are prompts. A checked box says the certificate reports something about additional-insured or waiver-of-subrogation status. It does not show the complete endorsement wording, scheduled party, completed-operations scope, primary and non-contributory language, or exclusions.
When the contract asks for an endorsement, record the evidence state precisely:
- The endorsement page is attached and identifiable.
- The certificate checkbox or description refers to it, but the page is absent.
- Nothing responsive was found.
Useful form numbers can help route a request, but they are not universal prescriptions. The actual policy edition, schedule, project, and customer-approved insurance exhibit matter.
Read policy dates as a project question
The effective and expiration dates shown on the certificate describe the reported policy period. Compare them with today, the project schedule, and any completed-operations or closeout period the contract addresses.
An unexpired certificate today can still expire before mobilization, mid-project, or during a required tail. A replacement certificate should be reviewed as a new document. Do not assume the limits, carrier, forms, or endorsements stayed the same because the producer renewed the file.
At renewal, compare the new certificate with both the configured minimums and the prior certificate. A limit can fall, an endorsement can disappear, or the insurer can change even when the filename says “renewal.”
The description and certificate-holder boxes
The DESCRIPTION OF OPERATIONS / LOCATIONS / VEHICLES box can contain project names, locations, contract references, endorsement descriptions, or additional-insured wording. Record the text, but do not treat a sentence there as a replacement for a required endorsement page.
The CERTIFICATE HOLDER box identifies the party receiving the certificate. Being listed as certificate holder does not by itself make that party an additional insured. Those are different concepts and should remain different fields in the review.
Cancellation and authorized representative
The cancellation area usually states that notice will be delivered according to policy provisions. It does not automatically promise a particular number of days to every certificate holder. If the contract requires a notice period, locate the policy endorsement or other evidence the customer relies on and record the exact source.
The authorized-representative signature is part of the certificate, but a visible signature does not authenticate the entire file. If the document appears altered, the producer contact is inconsistent, or the policy information is suspicious, verify through the insurer, producer, state insurance department, or another process your company has adopted.
Common review failures
- Reviewing the certificate holder instead of the named insured.
- Copying the general aggregate into the each-occurrence field.
- Treating a checked endorsement box as an attached endorsement.
- Assuming the new certificate matches last year’s file.
- Missing a project name or location restriction in the description.
- Treating a blank field as zero or as proof of absence.
- Recording “compliant” without preserving the requirement, source, reviewer, and date.
- Letting a changed requirement rewrite the apparent history of an earlier review.
What the review record should preserve
For each certificate, keep the original file, recorded fields, quoted source line and page where possible, effective minimums used at the time, the arithmetic difference, reviewer identity, review date, correction requests, replacement files, and any customer-authorized exception.
The final status should describe the record: received, pending review, reviewed with no recorded differences, reviewed with recorded differences, expired, or superseded. It should not claim that coverage exists for a loss or that the software approved the vendor.
If a field or endorsement differs from the adopted rule, continue with what to do when a subcontractor’s COI comes back short. For requirement design, use subcontractor insurance requirements by trade.
Primary sources and verification tools
- Texas Department of Insurance — filed ACORD 25 specimen, for the form layout and warnings.
- Texas Department of Insurance — certificate FAQ, including certificate-holder and additional-insured questions.
- New York Department of Financial Services — ACORD 25 and ACORD 27 opinion, explaining why a certificate does not amend the policy.
- NAIC consumer tools, for insurer information and state insurance departments.
- A.M. Best ratings search for ratings not printed on the ACORD 25.
Where software fits
Field extraction is only useful when the reviewer can see and correct it. SubLien sends the document to an AI provider, returns each recorded value with the literal source line and page, leaves unsupported fields blank, and keeps the certificate beside the review screen.
The customer reviewer may replace every recorded fact before attesting that the final values and decision are the customer’s own review. SubLien then compares that reviewed record with company, project, and optional vendor minimums and preserves the effective requirements used at that time.
SubLien does not decide whether the policy is adequate, authenticate the producer, or determine that a vendor may work or be paid. See the COI tracking software or bring one ACORD 25 to a 15-minute demo.