Insurance requirements are stated plainly in every solicitation and are among the most common causes of delay at award — usually because a certificate does not say what the agency needs it to say.
Public construction solicitations typically require some combination of the following, at limits stated in the document.
The core coverage, protecting against bodily injury and property damage arising from your operations. Solicitations specify both per-occurrence and aggregate limits, and frequently require that the aggregate apply per project rather than across your whole book.
That per-project aggregate requirement matters. A policy with a single aggregate shared across every job you run may not satisfy it, and the endorsement to change that is something to arrange in advance.
Covering owned, hired and non-owned vehicles. Straightforward, and the limits are usually modest relative to general liability.
Required by Florida law for most employers and required by essentially every public contract. Some agencies accept a valid Florida exemption for qualifying officers, but many public contracts require actual coverage regardless.
If you operate on exemptions, check the solicitation specifically. It is a common and avoidable problem at award.
Required on larger contracts to sit above the primary limits. Where a solicitation requires several million in coverage, an umbrella policy is usually how it is achieved.
Beyond limits, solicitations impose contractual requirements on how the coverage is written. These cause more delay than the limits themselves.
The agency requires being named as additional insured on your general liability, extending your coverage to them for claims arising from your work. This requires a specific endorsement — simply listing the agency in the certificate holder box does not accomplish it.
Agencies increasingly require the endorsement itself rather than accepting a certificate saying one exists. Ask your agent for the endorsement form up front.
Your insurer waives its right to pursue the agency after paying a claim. This too requires an endorsement, and it is frequently overlooked until an agency rejects a certificate.
Your coverage responds first, without contribution from the agency’s own insurance. Another endorsement, and another common gap.
All three are endorsement requirements rather than certificate language. A certificate that recites them without the underlying endorsements is not compliant, and agencies check.
The certificate of insurance is the document you submit, and it must match what the solicitation asked for exactly — the agency named correctly and completely, the required endorsements reflected, limits at or above those required, and the description of operations referencing the project where required.
Certificates are frequently rejected for small errors: the agency’s legal name slightly wrong, a required endorsement not shown, an expiry date falling inside the contract term. Each rejection costs days at award.
Read the insurance section when you first review a solicitation, not after you win. Send it to your agent immediately and ask two questions: can we meet this, and what will it cost. If additional coverage or endorsements are needed, that cost belongs in your bid.
If you use subcontractors, the agency’s requirements generally flow down. You will be responsible for ensuring your subs carry equivalent coverage and for collecting their certificates.
This is a real administrative burden and a real risk. An uninsured sub on a public project is your exposure, not the agency’s. Collect certificates before they mobilise, not after — see our guide to subcontracting on public projects.
Insurance on public work frequently costs more than on private jobs because the limits and endorsement requirements are higher. That difference belongs in your pricing.
Contractors moving from residential and small commercial work into public contracts sometimes carry limits well below what public solicitations require and discover the gap when they win. Establishing what your target work demands, and carrying it, is worth doing before rather than after.
Requirements vary by agency and by contract, and the summary here is general. Read the insurance provisions in each solicitation and take advice from your insurance agent on meeting them.
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