The Contract Wants $2M. The Policy Has $1M.
A certificate cannot close a coverage gap. The required limit has to match the correct policy limit first.
Construction request: a roofer wins a commercial job and forwards a portal screenshot: “General Liability required: $2M Each Occurrence.” Then comes the familiar note: “Can you send the COI today?”
Two $2M figures can mean different things
The agent opens the General Liability policy and finds $1M Each Occurrence and $2M General Aggregate. The insured saw “$2M” on the policy; the general contractor asked for $2M for each occurrence. Those are not interchangeable.
General Liability · Each Occurrence
General Liability · Each Occurrence
The agent cannot issue the certificate as requested. The certificate has to report coverage that exists; it cannot create it.
This often appears after a job is won
A contractor may have carried $1M limits for years because that fit the work they had been doing. Then they land a larger commercial job. The requirements arrive in a portal, a bid package, a subcontract, or a short checklist. The contractor forwards it to the agency expecting a simple COI.
They may not know the difference between each occurrence and aggregate limits. They may not remember whether an umbrella exists. They know the crew starts soon and someone is waiting for proof of insurance.
The next check is excess coverage
A primary policy shortfall does not always end the inquiry. The agency checks whether a qualifying umbrella or excess policy can satisfy the requirement, then whether the contract and the policy structure allow that coverage to be represented as requested.
- 1Extract the required limit and its exact basis from the contract.
- 2Compare it to the matching limit on the declarations page.
- 3Check umbrella or excess coverage and its underlying requirements.
- 4Stop if the coverage still does not satisfy the request.
- 5Route a clear coverage-change request to the account manager.
When coverage needs to change
If no qualifying excess coverage is available, the insured needs more coverage before the agency can issue the requested certificate. That may mean increasing a primary limit, adding an umbrella, sending contract details to the carrier, or paying additional premium.
The work has moved from certificate issuance into a coverage-change workflow.
Useful escalation
Name the gap precisely
The account manager should not have to rediscover why the COI stopped.
Contract requires $2M each occurrence. Policy carries $1M. No qualifying excess coverage found. Coverage change required before issuance.Why the routine-looking request is risky
“Please send the COI ASAP” does not tell the agent whether the insured understands the mismatch. A system that sees “$2M” anywhere in the policy and marks the request satisfied has missed the decision that matters: which $2M is being requested, and which $2M is actually carried.
Send us five COI requests.
See completed work and the judgment calls we surface.