Article Type: News Article

Understanding ACORD Form Certificates of Insurance (COIs): A Complete Guide

CertFocus by Vertikal

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Certificates of Insurance (COIs) are critical documents used in many industries to verify that a party has the appropriate insurance coverage in place. One of the most widely used formats for these certificates is the ACORD Form. If you’ve ever wondered what an ACORD Form COI is or why it matters, you’re in the right place.

 

What Is an ACORD Certificate of Insurance?

An ACORD Certificate of Insurance (COI) is a standardized document used to provide proof of insurance coverage. It summarizes the essential details of a policy—such as coverage types, limits, effective dates, and the insured party—in a one-page form.

The term ACORD stands for the Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development, a nonprofit organization that sets data and form standards for the insurance industry. ACORD forms ensure consistency and reliability when sharing insurance information between insurers, policyholders, and third parties like vendors or clients.

 

Using AI for COI Processing

 

Why Are ACORD COIs Important?

ACORD COIs are often required in business contracts and partnerships to:

  • check mark icon Verify that vendors, contractors, or suppliers carry adequate insurance.
  • check mark icon Protect against liability risks.
  • check mark icon Ensure compliance with legal or contractual obligations.
  • check mark icon Speed up onboarding or payment approvals.

 

They don’t provide coverage themselves but serve as a snapshot of active insurance policies.

 

What’s Included in an ACORD COI?

An ACORD 25 (the most common certificate for liability insurance) typically includes:

  • check mark icon Insured party name and contact info
  • check mark icon Producer (agent/broker) contact
  • check mark icon Insurance company names
  • check mark icon Policy numbers and types of coverage (e.g., General Liability, Auto, Workers’ Comp)
  • check mark icon Effective and expiration dates
  • check mark icon Coverage limits
  • check mark icon Certificate holder details
  • check mark icon Description of operations (free-form field for notes or contract references)
  • check mark icon Authorized signature

 

Why Does Standardization Matter?

Using the ACORD format ensures consistency across insurers, industries, and platforms. Whether you’re onboarding a new vendor or verifying compliance, the standardized layout helps automate and streamline the review process.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

What does “ACORD” stand for?

ACORD stands for Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development. It is the organization that develops standardized insurance forms, including COIs.

Is an ACORD COI a legal contract?

No, a COI is not a contract or policy. It’s a summary of coverage and doesn’t provide any legal rights to the certificate holder. Always refer to the actual policy documents for full details.

How long is a Certificate of Insurance valid?

COIs are valid only for the policy term listed on the form. Once a policy expires or is canceled, the COI is no longer valid unless updated by the insurance provider.

What’s the difference between a COI and an insurance binder?

An insurance binder is a temporary contract of insurance coverage, while a COI is merely proof that coverage exists. A binder offers temporary coverage; a COI does not.

Can I request a COI from a vendor?

Absolutely—and you should. If you’re hiring contractors, subcontractors, or third-party vendors, requesting a COI ensures they have the insurance coverage necessary to protect your business. Automated COI monitoring systems such as CertFocus by Vertikal can be used to instantly validate COIs within seconds of receipt. Hawk-I a component within CertFocus extracts coverage date from COIs and automatically compares it coverage requirements found in vendor contracts.

 

Learn More About Automated COI Tracking

ACORD Certificates of Insurance are essential tools for verifying insurance coverage quickly and efficiently. By understanding what they include and how they work, you can better manage third-party risk, improve compliance, and streamline business operations.

Want to learn more about automated COI tracking? Check out our blog post on straight-through COI processing.

 

Ready for a Free Demo?

See how Vertikal can transform your 3rd party risk management strategy.

Contact Vertikal today or email marketing@vertikalrms.com to schedule a live free demo of CertFocus. Discover the difference that instant, intelligent COI evaluation can make for your business.

 

Ready to Break Through the Certificate of Insurance Bottleneck?

CertFocus and Hawk I for expert COI Management

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Vertikal Introduces Instantaneous Reviews of COIs

Experience the Quickest and Most Precise Reviews of Certificates of Insurance (COI) Available in the Market

Validating supplier COIs is widely recognized as an inefficient process. It often feels like it takes an eternity to complete all the necessary steps, starting with requesting a supplier’s COI and concluding with verifying that the insurance meets or exceeds minimum coverage requirements. This waiting game causes headaches for everyone involved.

COI tracking is not only time-consuming but also labor-intensive. The process involves multiple steps, including requesting COIs, extracting coverage data, comparing that data to contractually defined insurance requirements, and determining compliance status.

 

CertFocus and Hawk I for expert COI Management

 

What Is Straight-Through COI Processing?

Vertikal’s proprietary Hawk-I technology enables rapid and accurate validation of supplier insurance certificates. Hawk-I extracts essential information from ACORD Form Certificates of Insurance (COIs), including dates, coverage types, coverage amounts, and checkboxes. Additionally, Hawk-I interprets the free-form language in the description of operations section of the certificate, extracting pertinent information that is crucial for compliance determination.

By organizing all important data from a COI into a structured format, Hawk-I allows for immediate comparison with coverage requirements, facilitating swift compliance assessments without the need for manual review of the COI document. This straight-through process ensures that the entire COI review is completed within seconds of receipt!

This significant increase in speed greatly improves the previously laborious and inefficient process of collecting and evaluating compliance for Certificates of Insurance.

 

Accurate COI management with Hawk-I

 

What Are the Benefits of Straight-Through COI Processing?

 

check mark icon Enhances Risk Management

Rapid reviews of Certificates of Insurance allow you to identify potential gaps in coverage promptly, ensuring you stay ahead of potential risks before they become problems.

check mark icon Enhances Visibility and Informed Decision-Making

The tracking system will provide real-time updates on the insurance status of your supply base. This allows for more informed business decisions, such as whether to engage or refrain from engaging a supplier, or to hold or release payment to a subcontractor, all based on accurate information.

check mark icon Eliminates False Compliance Statuses Caused by Processing Delays

Diligent suppliers regularly send updated certificates to address deficiencies and advise of coverage renewals. Delays in processing newly received COIs leads to the tracking system displaying outdated compliance statuses, such as showing an entity as compliant when it is actually non-compliant, or vice versa.

check mark icon Improves Supplier Onboarding

Certificates of Insurance (COIs) must be collected and reviewed for insurance coverage acceptability before finalizing onboarding approval and before commencing any business activities. Faster approval of COIs accelerates the onboarding process, allowing business activities to begin sooner and enhancing the satisfaction of all parties involved.

check mark icon Improves Supplier Relationships

Instantaneous reviews from straight-through Certificate of Insurance (COI) processing mean that suppliers are immediately informed whether their newly uploaded COI meets the requirements for providing proof of insurance coverage. Suppliers value these immediate COI reviews and compliance determinations, as it allows them to quickly move on to other activities.

check mark icon Leads to More Effective Agent/Broker Engagement

Producers of Certificates of Insurance (COIs) receive immediate feedback on whether the documents they upload are compliant. If a newly uploaded COI does not meet compliance standards, they are promptly notified, enabling them to make the necessary adjustments to address any deficiencies. As a result, agents and brokers no longer have to wait to determine the compliance status of the COI.

check mark icon Lowers Processing Costs and Saves Time

The straight-through processing of Certificates of Insurance (COIs) has removed the need for manual evaluations. This approach not only speeds up the review process but also improves the consistency of how reviews are conducted. Vertikal provides its clients with the flexibility to choose how they utilize straight-through processing. Some clients may prefer to use it for all incoming COIs, while others might opt to combine manual reviews with straight-through processing based on the types of vendors or specific requirements.

check mark icon Eliminates Backlogs Caused by Periods of High Volumes of Incoming COIs

Hawk-I addresses the challenges of document backlogs and delays that occur during periods of high incoming Certificate of Insurance (COI) volume. Each year, there are surges in COI submissions, particularly right after the end of calendar quarters, which coincide with common renewal dates: January 1st, April 1st, July 1st, and October 1st. These spikes in volume can strain resources, leading to backlogs and extended processing times for certificates. This situation can negatively impact supplier relationships and increase the likelihood that the tracking system does not reflect the most current policy information, as documents remain pending for processing.

By utilizing Hawk-I, organizations can effectively manage this issue, as it enables the review of documents and updates to compliance status at speeds significantly faster than manual reviews. With Hawk-I, the backlog of COIs requiring processing is eliminated.

check mark icon Can Be Used for Evaluating Other Insurance and Non-Insurance Documents

Hawk-I is a tool designed for evaluating both insurance and non-insurance documents. The AI model used in Hawk-I for managing Certificates of Insurance (COIs) can also automatically extract and review a variety of other documents. Any documents from business partners that require information validation are perfect candidates for a streamlined review process with Hawk-I. This will save your organization both time and money.

 

Conclusion

Navigating the complexities of Certificates of Insurance (COIs) can be challenging. With Hawk-I, straight-through processing becomes a reality. This innovative technology speeds up COI reviews while enhancing accuracy. All participants in the COI process will benefit, leading to improved supplier relations. The long-held goal has been to achieve straight-through processing of COIs, eliminating the need for manual reviews of each document. We are excited to be at the forefront of COI evaluation technology, ensuring our clients have the best COI tracking service and system capabilities available in the marketplace.

 

Ready for a Free AI Demo?

See how Hawk-I can transform your approach to 3rd party risk management.

Contact Vertikal today or email marketing@vertikalrms.com to schedule a live, free demo of Certfocus and to receive a proposal for the CertFocus system and services. Discover the difference that Hawk-I straight-through COI evaluation can make for your business.

Hawk-I: Revolutionizing Certificate of Insurance (COI) Verification and Tracking with AI-Powered Automation

Hawk I AI The Future of Insurance Compliance

Introducing Hawk-I AI - The Future of Insurance Compliance Tracking

 

Vertikal Risk Management Solutions (RMS) is pleased to introduce Hawk-I, a new AI tool that integrates seamlessly with our flagship COI tracking application, CertFocus. Now organizations can use automation to overcome the traditional friction points found in the COI tracking process, presenting a revolutionary leap forward in 3rd party risk management.

 

Why Improve 3rd Party Risk Management?

For decades, companies have struggled with inefficient and manual methods of verifying Certificates of Insurance (COI) from vendors, contractors, and suppliers. These documents are essential for ensuring that 3rd parties meet specific insurance requirements — yet until now, the process of reviewing and tracking COIs have been plagued by slow turnaround times, human error, and inconsistent accuracy.

Every organization that outsources work, hires contractors, or partners with vendors opens itself up to a range of risk exposures — from property damage to workplace accidents and cyber incidents. To manage this risk, businesses require valid, up-to-date evidence of insurance from each 3rd party. But when you’re managing hundreds or thousands of suppliers, the administrative burden becomes enormous!

At its core, 3rd party risk management is about trust — but that trust must be backed by validated information. In today’s complex operating landscape, the risks of relying on outdated or invalid insurance documentation are too great to ignore. Whether it’s a coverage lapse, an expired policy, or an exclusion clause buried in fine print, even small gaps can lead to major liability.

 

before and after Hawk I AI for COI

 

Hawk-I empowers businesses to proactively address these risks. Real-time compliance tracking allows stakeholders to detect and remediate issues before they become legal or financial headaches. Plus, with audit-ready data available instantly, organizations are better prepared for internal reviews, external audits, and regulatory inspections.

 

What’s Wrong with Traditional COI Processing?

Traditionally, COIs were reviewed manually, relying on staff to read and verify coverage details across various formats. Even with traditional COI software technologies such as Optical Character Recognition (OCR), challenges persisted. OCR technology is limited in its ability to interpret low-quality document scans, detect nuanced policy language in free-form text, or maintain high accuracy in dynamic document formats. These gaps not only slow down the process but also open the door to inaccuracy in determining COI compliance and increased loss exposure.

 

Tracking COIs

 

COI review is one of the most resource-draining tasks in vendor onboarding and on-going vendor management. Every year, millions of COIs are exchanged between businesses and their suppliers. Historically, this has involved:

  • • Manual entry and interpretation of policy information found on the COI
  • • Dependence on OCR systems that can’t recognize unstructured or low-quality text
  • • Multi-day delays for review and approval
  • • Lack of integration with internal systems, leading to siloed or outdated records
  • • High costs associated with data entry staff, error correction, and compliance follow-up

 

Hawk-I solves these problems with AI-driven automation that delivers measurable improvements across the board.

 

Can an AI Assistant Produce Better COI Management?

 

Using AI for COI Processing

 

Effective 3rd party risk management requires more than just collecting certificates of insurance documents — it demands artificially intelligent systems that can evaluate COI compliance in real time, reducing the risk of coverage lapses, and protecting the company from liability. That’s exactly what Vertikal aims to deliver. Enter Hawk-I, a game-changing AI tool designed to automate, streamline, and elevate the entire certificate of insurance compliance workflow.

 

What Is Hawk-I?

Hawk-I is an AI tool developed by Vertikal Risk Management Services to automate the COI review process within It’s CertFocus application. Trained on extensive real-world insurance data, Hawk-I uses natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning to extract and analyze certificate of insurance information — whether it’s embedded in forms, free-form text, or PDF documents.

 

Hawk I AI Screenshot

 

How Does Hawk-I Achieve Instant COI Compliance?

By enabling COI processing with AI, Hawk-I replaces the high cost of manual reviews with automatic evaluations. Incoming COIs are scanned, validated, and processed in seconds (not days) with updated compliance status immediately available to all of the participants in the COI process (supplier, supplier agent, certificate holder) immediately after COIs are received.

 

how it works

 

Workflow for Hawk-I Intelligence:

 

Artificial Intelligence Workflow

 

What Are the Features & Benefits of Hawk-I?

 

Hawk I AI COI Processing

 

Instantly Extract COI Data

Hawk-I’s proprietary algorithms accurately extract policy information from both structured form fields and unstructured PDF documents. It takes complex policy text description from COI images and captures the necessary data with minimal error — far outperforming manual systems.

 

Get Rapid Compliance Status

With Hawk-I, what once took days now happens in seconds! The moment a COI is uploaded into CertFocus, Hawk-I reviews and processes it, giving both internal users and external vendors instant feedback on compliance status.

 

Save on Costs

Manual COI management involves hidden labor costs, errors, and compliance gaps. By automating data entry and reducing human intervention with AI, Hawk-I helps management teams focus on resolving risk—not processing paperwork.

 

Seamless Integration with CertFocus COI Application

Hawk-I doesn’t just analyze documents on it’s own — it integrates with our COI application, CertFocus effortlessly. Insurance data can flow directly into enterprise tools, ERPs, and contract management platforms, supporting real-time reporting and automated decision-making.

 

A Better User Experience & Collaboration

From compliance officers to procurement teams to vendors themselves, everyone benefits from Hawk-I’s responsiveness and transparency. Suppliers can get immediate confirmation of whether their documents meet requirements, improving relationships and reducing bottlenecks.

 

Handles Other Required Documents

Hawk-I’s AI engine is versatile. While initially trained for COIs, it can be adapted to interpret other business documents, image-based data, and compliance records—making it a valuable asset across departments and industries.

 

Please check back for more AI related news and updates from Vertikal.

 

Does CertFocus Integrate with Hawk-I?

CertFocus + Hawk-I AI Integration for COI Management

 

The introduction of Hawk-I builds upon the strength of Vertikal’s CertFocus application, which has been trusted by enterprises for over two decades to manage COIs and enforce risk management policies. CertFocus is widely regarded as a leader in the insurance technology space, helping organizations streamline compliance, protect their assets, and ensure accountability across their supply chain.

By integrating Hawk-I into CertFocus, Vertikal RMS delivers the most intelligent and efficient COI management solution on the market today. This innovation further underscores Vertikal’s role as a forward-thinking partner for risk leaders in industries ranging from construction and logistics to finance, healthcare, and energy.

A testimonial for Hawk-I

The future of COI management is here — and it’s powered by artificial intelligence. With Hawk-I, companies can finally eliminate the friction, inefficiency, and blind spots that have long plagued insurance compliance processes.

Ready for a Free AI Demo?

See how Hawk-I AI can transform your 3rd party risk management strategy.

Contact Vertikal today or email marketing@vertikalrms.com to schedule a live free demo of Hawk-I. Discover the difference that instant, intelligent COI evaluation can make for your business.

CertFocus Empowers Organizations To Achieve Compliance At Any Scale

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As a Risk Manager and an insurance expert, you understand the importance of Certificate of Insurance Compliance to your risk transfer process. Therefore, the services you seek from a COI management provider need to be more comprehensive than those that simply point out a problem, without offering sound service solutions.

The services provided by basic COI tracking companies may help identify compliance deficiencies, but on its own, most COI tracking companies lack the solution-based approach that most businesses require. The complexities involved in fixing a compliance issue can be extremely time-consuming, costly and challenging. The industry insight and insurance knowledge required to help achieve proper COI Compliance only comes from experienced insurance professionals. With a nearly 99% customer retention rate, CertFocus has proven time and time again that we have the people, tools, and knowledge to consistently support a diverse range of organizations. CertFocus is not a COI tracking company, we are a COI compliance service.  There is a tremendous difference between our business model and the rest of the industry.

Our goal is to be more than just a vendor; we want to be an extension of your risk management department- a true partner. Our long-standing track record of excellence supported by the industry’s most dynamic customer service- for insurance professionals, by insurance professionals. That might be one reason why over 60% of our current customers came to us after trying other services. Organizations soon realize that other providers in our industry offer basic non-responsive cookie cutter approaches, with lackluster service, and limited resources that end up wasting time and money.

That is just one reason why we provide a dedicated CIC, CISR, CPCU, and CRIS certified account manager for each of our customers. These team members are trained to help solve any problems that may arise. Other companies stop at COI tracking, but that is where CertFocus begins.

Whether you are a mature and robust corporation or a quickly growing business, you can’t afford to let your COI tracking vendor’s poor results and service turn your risk transfer program into a rotting cavity. CertFocus sets the standard in the COI compliance industry because we solve problems, put people first, and use our expertise to help you rest easy.

 

RELATED: Reporting Tool For Stronger Risk Management, Tools to Control Post-Pandemic Risk Management, Simplify Subcontractor and Vendor Relationships, Create a Culture of Vendor Compliance 

 

Trust in CertFocus to Ensure Insurance Compliance

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Trust is a vital ingredient for any successful business partnership. And while it would be great if we only ever had to trust that others were doing the right thing, there are vital elements that must exist for trust to develop; superior customer service, dependability, and results. CertFocus strives to become a valued and trusted partner for all their customers by delivering the highest levels of compliance in the Certificate of Insurance (COI) Management Industry. In equity partnership with the Insurance Services Office (now part of the Verisk Analytics Family of Companies), CertFocus offers our clients a COI management solution designed to deliver the most flexible, accurate, and reliable results in the industry. This is why, when it comes to ensuring certificate of insurance compliance from vendors, subcontractors, suppliers, tenants, and franchises, CertFocus sets the industry standard.

As a fully flexible service designed by insurance professionals for insurance professionals, our service is customer service focused and is supported by software, rather than simply being like most other providers in our industry, a basic COI software tracking technology. Therefore, by focusing on being a service first, CertFocus is able to work with each customer to design and develop a fully customized compliance platform to ensure that your specific needs are being met. We are proud of the fact that our 180+ customers receive tremendous value from our solution, and benefit from over 90+% COI compliance. With a strong U.S.-based infrastructure, flexible service solutions, and most importantly CIC, CRIS, CISR and CPCU credentialed account managers dedicated to helping you, CertFocus delivers the most comprehensive COI management solution in the industry.

With CertFocus, you have a trustworthy partner who can ensure compliance from your vendors, and provide you with significant savings through economies of scale. CertFocus frees up your valuable time and resources, allowing you to focus on managing the process while CertFocus does all the heavy lifting. CertFocus provides you with ad hoc reporting and by being SaaS-based, is accessible from any device, integrating with most all AP, Single Sign-on, SAP, PeopleSoft, JDE, Oracle and many other third-party systems. You will appreciate our permission-based user privileges and the fact that our flexible infrastructure allows for unlimited hierarchies, and the assurance of unlimited requirement sets.

When you need to ensure vendor, subcontractor, supplier, tenant, and franchisee compliance, CertFocus is there to be your trusted partner and to provide the highest level of compliance and the most robust service possible in the Certificate of Insurance Industry. CertFocus works with each customer to design and develop the customized compliance platform they need to ensure their specific needs are being met. We are more than a software- it is our people behind the solution who are there to get you results. We continue to make significant investments into our people and our world class operations infrastructure- and as a result, into our customers- that no other provider can possibly match.

Related: Construction Case Study, Property Management Case Study, Retail Case Study, Trust in CertFocus to Ensure Insurance Compliance

Create a Culture of Vendor Compliance When It Comes To Your Supply Chain Risk Management

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Growing evidence suggests certificate of insurance (COI) management services must go beyond the basic service of certificate tracking to actually facilitate an increased level of COI compliance. On average, seven out of ten received COIs from your vendors are shown to be out of compliance. The risk presented to companies is very real, and the need for companies to do more than just track COIs is clear. With dedicated account management from seasoned and credentialed insurance professionals for each customer, CertFocus transcends typical vendor compliance tracking, and institutes a true Culture of Compliance.

The complexities involved in reviewing COIs relies on human experience, and insurance domain expertise with technological support for complete accuracy and efficiency. Expert and credentialed insurance professionals review documentation and identify the nuances, trends, and patterns that machine-based recognition systems fail to comprehend. Once these human-identified deficiencies are rectified, specialized technology can perform quality assurance checks and generate reports.

When analyzing the opportunity for high-level economies of scale, outsourcing services for COI management can level the knowledge and expertise that in-house resources often lack. The specialized infrastructure of dedicated COI management provided by CertFocus, delivers this expertise in a cost-effective manner at a fraction of the price of in-house operations. Furthermore, using a reputable and proven COI management company can make your business more attractive to insurers, and limit your exposure in the event of vendor failures.

“CertFocus provides dedicated account management from credentialed insurance professionals to each customer,” explains Jeff Krieger, Vice President Marketing of CertFocus. “No other company provides this level of service. To employ the level of expertise we provide, it would be cost prohibitive for anyone else. We are in our own league; honestly, we do not have any competitors.”

While others may claim to employ the skills of insurance professionals, none aside from CertFocus provide dedicated account managers with that level of insurance knowledge. Other vendors in our industry provide account managers that may be inexperienced employees – incapable of answering in-depth questions first-hand, and are missing out on the critical coverage details that the CertFocus insurance professionals are trained to identify. Placing credentialed insurance professionals in account manager roles for drastically improved COI management performance and enhanced customer service- is part of our Culture of Compliance at CertFocus.

“We understand the ongoing demands certificate management places on organizations – and as such, we provide each customer with a seasoned CIC, CPCU, CISR, and/or CRIS certified insurance professional as an Account Manager,” says Krieger.

 

RELATED: Simplify Complex Subcontractor and Vendor Relationships, Reduce Subcontractor Risk, Create a Culture of Vendor Compliance When