Automating Additional Insured Certificate Requests in General Liability & Construction and Commercial Auto: A Compliance Analyst’s Guide

Compliance Analysts across General Liability & Construction and Commercial Auto spend an outsized amount of time validating additional insured endorsements and responding to certificate of insurance (COI) requests. The work is repetitive, time-sensitive, and error-prone—especially when each request references unique contract language, multiple policy years, and endorsements that are buried in dense, inconsistent policy files. That’s where Doc Chat by Nomad Data changes the game.

Doc Chat is a suite of purpose-built, AI-powered agents that read and reason across entire policy files, contracts, endorsement schedules, and COI request emails to automate end-to-end document review and certificate processing. For Compliance Analysts, it means shaving days off the cycle, eliminating manual rekeying, and standardizing interpretations of ISO forms like CG 20 10 (ongoing operations) and CG 20 37 (completed operations), as well as ACORD 25 certificates—without adding headcount.

The Challenge: Volume, Variability, and Compliance Risk

In General Liability & Construction and Commercial Auto, COI requests typically come from project owners, general contractors, lenders, or upstream parties requiring evidence of coverage and proof of additional insured status. The requests include specific asks—primary and noncontributory wording, waiver of subrogation, per-project aggregates, completed operations for the statute of repose period, city or agency-compliant cancellation notice, and more. Contracts often specify forms (e.g., CG 20 10, CG 20 37, CG 20 01 for primary/noncontributory, CG 24 04 for waiver of subrogation), but the actual policies sent by insureds may use blanket endorsements, manuscript wording, or carrier-specific equivalents. In Commercial Auto, equivalent requirements may involve CA 20 48 (Designated Person or Organization – Additional Insured), lessor additional insured, hired/non-owned auto, and CA 04 44 Waiver of Subrogation.

For the Compliance Analyst, the job is to verify: does the policy really grant what the request requires? And if so, is it ongoing operations only or also completed operations? Is the additional insured status blanket or scheduled? Does the primary and noncontributory wording apply to the requesting entity? Does the waiver of subrogation apply to the line of coverage requested? Are limits adequate and do per project/location aggregate endorsements apply (e.g., CG 25 03)? These answers rarely live on a single page. They are scattered across binders, endorsement schedules, policy jackets, declarations, and multiple endorsements, often across different policy years.

The Nuances Compliance Analysts Face in GL/Construction and Commercial Auto

In construction and commercial fleets, nuance is the norm. Additional insured status can hinge on subtle distinctions:

Ongoing vs. Completed Operations: Many contracts require both. CG 20 10 typically addresses ongoing operations while CG 20 37 addresses completed ops. A blanket AI endorsement might grant both—but only if read in conjunction with the triggering language and completed ops inclusion.
Blanket vs. Scheduled: Some policies rely on blanket AI endorsements that activate only when required by contract. Others require scheduling the entity by name. Compliance Analysts must validate the entity match exactly to the legal name in the contract or COI request.
Primary & Noncontributory: Often provided via CG 20 01 or manuscript language. The wording must apply to the additional insured status and the same requesting party—not a generic “when required” statement that doesn’t tie to the entity.
Waiver of Subrogation: Frequently needed on GL and Auto. GL often uses CG 24 04; Auto commonly relies on CA 04 44. Scope matters: blanket vs. scheduled, and whether it extends to the party requesting it.
Per Project/Per Location Aggregates: Many owners/GCs require CG 25 03 or equivalent. The endorsement must be paired with the correct aggregate limits on the declarations page.
Auto-Specific Requirements: Additional insured for lessors (e.g., CA 20 01) or designated organizations (CA 20 48), symbol coverage, hired and non-owned auto, and any contractual indemnity alignment.
Certificate vs. Endorsements: The ACORD 25 is informational. The endorsements control. Yet many requestors judge acceptance by the certificate appearance, including fields for AI, PNC, Waiver, and cancellation notice. The Compliance Analyst must reconcile both.

Layer in renewal cycles (re-issue COIs annually, validate new endorsements), project-specific wording, municipal wording templates, and entity name changes, and the administrative burden multiplies. The result: delays, backlogs, and compliance risk.

How the Process Is Handled Manually Today

Most Compliance Analysts follow a repeatable but time-consuming workflow. New COI requests arrive by email or portal, often as free-form text with attachments. The analyst must identify the requesting party, the insured, and the precise coverage requirements, then pull the appropriate policy file(s) and endorsements to validate compliance.

Typical steps include:

Open the COI request email and attachments (contract excerpt, insurance specifications, prior certificates, project notices).
Identify policy year(s), carrier(s), and applicable lines (GL, Auto, Excess/Umbrella).
Locate and read the endorsements: CG 20 10, CG 20 37, CG 20 01, CG 24 04, CG 25 03, plus any manuscript endorsements or carrier-specific equivalents; for Auto, CA 20 48, lessor AI, CA 04 44, and symbol notations.
Confirm the legal name of the entity requesting additional insured status matches when scheduled, or that the blanket endorsement triggers “when required by written contract.”
Cross-check limits on the dec page, check aggregate structure (per project/location), and align wording like primary/noncontributory with contract obligations.
Draft or edit the ACORD 25, populate check boxes for AI/PNC/Waiver, add descriptions of operations wording, and attach required endorsements if requested.
Log tracking in spreadsheets or RMIS, obtain approvals, and send the COI and endorsement evidence to the requestor or portal.

Every step is manual. Analysts scan 100+ page policy files to find two lines of decisive language. They re-key details into ACORD forms. They reconcile inconsistent requests against what the policy actually provides. When renewals hit, the team repeats the same checks. Backlogs build, cycle times lengthen, and the chance a subtle requirement is missed increases with volume.

Why Manual Breaks Down: It’s Not Just Extraction, It’s Inference

Certificate processing and additional insured validation is not a simple “find field X on page 1” problem. The requirement is a concept that emerges from multiple documents: the contract drives a requirement, the policy dec sets the coverage stage, the endorsement adds conditional rights, and the descriptions of operations finalize context. As Nomad Data explains in Beyond Extraction: Why Document Scraping Isn’t Just Web Scraping for PDFs, you are not merely extracting text—you are inferring compliance from scattered breadcrumbs across a file.

That’s why early “keyword” or template solutions for COIs failed. They misread blanket triggers or missed that a manuscript endorsement fully satisfied the contract. They couldn’t reason across thousands of pages. Human analysts can, but it costs time and attention—and fatigue reduces accuracy when workloads spike.

AI for Additional Insured Certificate Generation: How Doc Chat Automates the Entire Workflow

Doc Chat ingests entire policy files, endorsement schedules, binder packets, contract insurance specs, prior COIs, and request emails—often thousands of pages at a time—and answers a simple question: do we have what this request needs, and what should we issue on the ACORD 25?

Here’s how Doc Chat for Insurance automates and orchestrates your additional insured and COI process end-to-end:

Smart Intake: Drag-and-drop or auto-ingest from email inboxes and portals. Doc Chat classifies documents (policy, endorsement, contract, ACORD 25, request email) and routes them to the right workflow.
Contract-to-Policy Reconciliation: The agent reads contract language (e.g., “Owner shall be named as AI for ongoing and completed operations; coverage shall be primary and noncontributory with waiver of subrogation; per project aggregate required”). It maps each requirement to specific endorsements and policy provisions.
Endorsement Discovery & Validation: It finds CG 20 10 and CG 20 37, recognizes carrier equivalents, confirms whether completed ops are included, and verifies that CG 20 01 (or equivalent PNC language) and CG 24 04 WAOS apply to the requesting party. Auto equivalents (e.g., CA 20 48, lessor AI, CA 04 44) are likewise checked. Every answer is linked to the source page for auditability.
Limit & Aggregate Checks: Doc Chat validates limits on the declarations page, confirms per project/location aggregate via CG 25 03 if required, and flags any limits shortfall relative to contractual obligations.
ACORD 25 Drafting: It pre-populates the certificate based on validated policy data, toggles AI/PNC/WAOS fields, and drafts a Description of Operations that mirrors the contract’s required phrasing while staying within what the policy actually provides.
Deficiency Reporting: If something is missing (e.g., completed ops not granted, waiver only on GL not Auto, or blanket AI limited to written contracts with conditions not met), Doc Chat generates a deficiency memo with precise language and the proven remedy (endorsement request to carrier, manuscript alternative, or contract negotiation).
Real-Time Q&A: Ask, “Does this GL policy grant completed operations AI to ‘ABC Owner LLC’?” or “Is primary/noncontributory applicable to the City’s right-of-way permit?” and get immediate answers with citations.
Portfolio Scale: Process renewal waves and mass re-issuance across hundreds of projects. The system applies your playbook consistently, so every certificate reflects the same standards.

The result is exactly what Compliance Analysts need: consistency, speed, and defensibility. It’s also why carriers and claims teams trust Nomad Data to process thousands of pages in minutes, as highlighted in The End of Medical File Review Bottlenecks and the Great American Insurance Group webinar replay.

Automate COI Requests Processing Insurance: Handling Edge Cases and Complexity

Real life rarely matches a textbook ISO endorsement. Doc Chat is engineered to handle the messy middle that Compliance Analysts grapple with daily:

Blanket vs. Scheduled AI: Determines whether the blanket trigger applies (“when required by written contract”) and if the requesting entity is properly referenced in a qualifying agreement.
Completed Operations Nuances: Confirms whether completed ops extend to the additional insured, and for how long (e.g., statute of repose considerations). Flags endorsements that limit completed ops or require separate scheduling.
Primary & Noncontributory Scope: Validates that PNC applies to the AI status, not just to the Named Insured’s other insurance condition. Detects when PNC is limited to specific parties or projects.
Waiver of Subrogation Applicability: Ensures WAOS applies to the line (GL vs. Auto) and the named entity; flags if only blanket language exists without clear entity linkage.
Per Project/Location Aggregates: Verifies presence of CG 25 03 (or equivalent) and reconciles aggregate limits across umbrella layers when required by contract.
Municipal/Agency Wording: Compares permit or municipality templates to policy capabilities and recommends safe, accurate Description of Operations wording that avoids over-representing coverage.
Multi-Year Projects: Tracks renewal obligations and automatically regenerates compliant certificates on new policy terms, highlighting any material changes between years.

Because all outputs include page-level citations, reviewers, auditors, and counterparties can verify every statement in seconds. This is the “explainability” standard Nomad Data built for high-stakes claim review—and now brings to policy servicing.

Commercial Auto, COIs, and Additional Insured Specifics

Commercial Auto adds its own twists. A COI request may require AI status for a lessor, a client, or a specific project. Doc Chat checks whether the policy includes the necessary endorsement (e.g., CA 20 01 Lessor Additional Insured or CA 20 48 Designated Person or Organization – Additional Insured), whether symbol coverage aligns with the exposure, and whether CA 04 44 (Waiver of Subrogation) applies to the requestor. It also reconciles hired/non-owned auto coverage for vendors or volunteers, and verifies whether the umbrella properly follows form.

When the request also includes GL requirements, Doc Chat harmonizes both lines so the ACORD 25 and any supplemental notations accurately reflect the combined requirements without overpromising coverage. If the contract asks for Auto AI but the policy provides only “loss payee” or leans on indemnity language rather than additional insured status, Doc Chat flags the gap and proposes the precise endorsement changes to bind.

Business Impact: Time, Cost, Accuracy, and Morale

Moving from manual to AI-assisted certificate processing delivers measurable gains for Compliance Analysts, Certificate Coordinators, and Policy Servicing Specialists:

Time Savings: Hours of reading and re-issuing become minutes of verification. The team can process surge volumes without overtime.
Cost Reduction: Less manual rework, fewer touchpoints, and faster cycle times reduce administrative overhead and third-party processing costs.
Accuracy & Defensibility: Page-level citations and consistent application of your playbook reduce disputes, downstream claim leakage, and reputational risk with counterparties.
Employee Morale: Analysts spend less time hunting for endorsements and more time resolving exceptions and advising the business.

These outcomes mirror the transformations Nomad Data customers report across other insurance processes—from claims to underwriting to litigation support. See AI’s Untapped Goldmine: Automating Data Entry and Reimagining Claims Processing Through AI Transformation for quantified savings and productivity lifts.

Why Nomad Data: The Best Partner for Compliance Teams

Nomad Data isn’t a generic summarizer. It’s an enterprise-grade, insurance-first platform designed for the real documents you process every day. Our differentiators matter for Compliance Analysts in GL/Construction and Commercial Auto:

Volume at Speed: Ingest entire policy files, contract packets, and endorsement schedules—thousands of pages at once—so reviews move from days to minutes.
Complexity Handling: Doc Chat finds exclusions, endorsements, and trigger language buried in dense policies, spotting subtleties like completed ops conditions or endorsement limitations that typical tools miss.
The Nomad Process: We train Doc Chat on your playbooks, preferred Description of Operations wording, and escalation rules so outputs match your exact standards.
Real-Time Q&A: Ask natural-language questions across policies, contracts, and requests; get instant answers with source citations.
Defensibility & Auditability: Every conclusion links to the precise page and paragraph, simplifying internal QA, broker/carrier negotiations, and regulatory audits.
Security & Governance: Built for the data sensitivity of insurance operations, with enterprise controls and SOC 2 practices.

Equally important, Nomad delivers a white-glove implementation. Most teams are live in 1–2 weeks, with no heavy IT lift. Start with drag-and-drop; move to API integration on your timeline. Learn how other carriers accelerated adoption in our GAIG webinar replay.

What "AI for Additional Insured Certificate Generation" Looks Like Day-to-Day

Practical examples demonstrate why Compliance Analysts trust Doc Chat at the desk level:

Example 1: Completed Operations Requirement
Question: “Does the GL policy grant completed operations AI to ‘ABC Owner LLC’ per the Project Agreement?”
Doc Chat Response: “Yes. See CG 20 37 12/19, Page 64. Triggered for additional insureds required by written contract. Owner ‘ABC Owner LLC’ meets definition per Agreement (Section 10.2). PNC confirmed via CG 20 01 04/13, Page 71. Waiver of subrogation via CG 24 04 12/19, Page 73.”

Example 2: Blanket vs. Scheduled AI
Question: “The contract requires Owner to be ‘scheduled as an additional insured.’ Our policy has blanket AI. Is it acceptable?”
Doc Chat Response: “Policy provides blanket AI when required by written contract (CG 20 10 12/19, Page 58). Contract requires named scheduling. Current policy does not schedule ‘City of Westfield’ by name. Recommend endorsement revision or owner consent acknowledging blanket AI suffices.”

Example 3: Commercial Auto Waiver
Question: “We need WAOS on Auto for the Lessor. Do we have it?”
Doc Chat Response: “Yes. CA 04 44 10/13, Page 22, provides waiver of transfer of rights for entities required by contract. Lessor ‘XYZ Finance LLC’ is named in the lease (Exhibit C). Additional insured granted by CA 20 01 10/13, Page 18.”

Example 4: Per Project Aggregate
Question: “Does the policy provide a per project aggregate?”
Doc Chat Response: “Yes. CG 25 03 05/09, Page 90, limits apply separately to each project. Umbrella follows form (U-FF 001, Page 12).”

Example 5: Certificate Drafting
Command: “Draft ACORD 25 for ‘ABC Owner LLC’ with AI, PNC, Waiver, Completed Ops, and Per Project Aggregate references.”
Doc Chat Output: “Pre-populated ACORD 25 attached; Description of Operations references project address, AI ongoing/completed ops per CG 20 10 & CG 20 37, PNC per CG 20 01, WAOS per CG 24 04, and per project aggregate per CG 25 03. All statements mapped to citations.”

Standardizing the Playbook: From Tribal Knowledge to Scalable Process

Many COI rules live in someone’s head—how to phrase Description of Operations for a particular municipality, when to attach endorsements, how to handle owner-controlled insurance program (OCIP) carve-outs, or what “evidence only” language to use when a request is overbroad. Doc Chat turns those unwritten rules into consistent, teachable processes that every Compliance Analyst can follow, every time. This directly addresses the issue described in Beyond Extraction: we encode nuanced institutional judgment into AI agents that execute reliably at scale.

Integrations and Operational Fit

Doc Chat meets you where you work today and scales with you tomorrow:

Document Sources: Ingest from email, portals, DMS, and cloud storage. Auto-classify policy PDFs, endorsements, contracts, and ACORD forms.
Output Destinations: Export ACORD 25 drafts and compliance checklists to your RMIS, agency management system, or shared drives. Generate structured spreadsheets summarizing requirements met vs. missing across projects.
Workflow Automation: Auto-route deficiencies for endorsement requests; trigger renewal COI re-issues; maintain a live register of project compliance states.
Audit & QA: Everything retains page-level citations for internal review, reinsurer queries, or regulator audits.

Security, Trust, and Explainability

Insurance documentation contains sensitive information. Doc Chat is built with enterprise-grade security controls and produces an auditable trail for every decision. Each answer includes a link back to the exact page and paragraph in the source. This is the same level of transparency that helped teams trust the solution in complex claims, as discussed in our GAIG webinar replay.

Implementation: White-Glove Service and 1–2 Week Timeline

Nomad Data’s white-glove onboarding shortens time-to-value. We adapt Doc Chat to your exact certificate and endorsement playbooks, preferred Description of Operations language, and exception routing. Typical milestones:

Week 1: Discovery workshop; load sample policies, endorsements, contract templates, and COI examples; configure Q&A intents; establish output formats (ACORD 25, deficiency memos, compliance checklists).
Week 2: User training, pilot on live requests, integrate with email inbox or DMS; fine-tune language presets and exception handling.

Teams often begin using Doc Chat on day one via drag-and-drop, then add integrations as volume grows. This mirrors the pragmatic rollout approach described in AI for Insurance: Real-World AI Use Cases.

Measurable Outcomes for Compliance Analysts

Organizations that “automate COI requests processing insurance” with Doc Chat consistently report:

Cycle-Time Reduction: Turnaround times drop from days to minutes, especially for renewal waves and multi-project portfolios.
Throughput Gains: A single analyst handles significantly more requests without overtime, accommodating seasonality and project surges.
Accuracy & Consistency: The same answer is produced for the same scenario, regardless of who handles the file, with every claim defensible via source citations.
Lower Disputes: Clear, cited responses reduce pushback from counterparties and prevent overstatement of coverage on COIs.
Talent Retention: Replacing rote search tasks with judgment-driven exceptions reduces burnout and turnover.

Governance: Prevent Over-Representation, Protect the Enterprise

One of the most consequential risks in COI processing is inadvertently representing coverage that the policy does not grant. Doc Chat’s playbooks are designed to keep you within policy boundaries. If a municipal form requires language your policy can’t support, Doc Chat proposes compliant alternatives and generates a deficiency memo that explains the constraint and options to cure (e.g., specific endorsement purchase, contract amendment, or revised description of operations).

Scaling from One-Off Requests to Programmatic Compliance

After replacing manual review on individual COI requests, most teams expand usage programmatically:

Renewal Campaigns: Auto-generate and queue COIs for all active projects upon binder issuance; highlight changes from expiring terms.
Portfolio Reviews: Scan historical projects to identify missing completed operations evidence; proactively remediate.
Exception Analytics: Track recurring deficiencies by carrier, line, or region to inform underwriting and brokerage strategies.
Cross-Line Assurance: Ensure GL, Auto, and Umbrella work together to satisfy integrated contractual requirements.

From Manual to Modern: A Practical Path to Adoption

Getting started is simple:

Select 10–20 recent COI requests covering GL/Construction and Commercial Auto; include contracts, policy files, endorsements, and issued ACORD 25s.
Share your certificate playbook: preferred Description of Operations language, endorsement attachment policy, deficiency memo templates.
Run a side-by-side pilot: have Doc Chat process the set, compare turnaround and accuracy, and calibrate to your standards.
Enable real-time Q&A for Compliance Analysts to test scenarios like “Does CG 20 10 include completed ops?” and “Is PNC valid for City permits?”
Integrate with your inbox and DMS once live; expand to programmatic renewal issuance.

FAQ for Compliance Analysts

Does Doc Chat generate ACORD 25 forms?
Yes. It pre-populates ACORD 25, drafts the Description of Operations, toggles AI/PNC/WAOS based on validated endorsements, and attaches citation-backed evidence where required.

Can it read non-ISO and manuscript endorsements?
Yes. Doc Chat recognizes functional equivalents and maps them to contractual requirements, with full citations for human verification.

How does it handle Auto requirements?
It validates additional insured endorsements like CA 20 48 or lessor AI, confirms symbol coverage and HNOA where needed, and aligns WAOS (CA 04 44) with the requesting entity.

What about security and audits?
Doc Chat is built for insurance-grade security and provides page-level citations for every determination, simplifying internal QA and external audits.

Conclusion: Your Fastest Path to Reliable, Scalable COI Automation

Additional insured validation and COI issuance shouldn’t be a bottleneck for Compliance Analysts in General Liability & Construction and Commercial Auto. With Doc Chat, you get AI for additional insured certificate generation that actually understands policies, endorsements, contracts, and ACORD forms—then produces defensible, standardized output at scale. You’ll cut cycle time from days to minutes, reduce manual effort, and elevate your team from document chasers to risk advisors.

Ready to automate COI requests processing insurance without disrupting your current systems? Explore Doc Chat for Insurance and see how quickly 1–2 weeks of white-glove onboarding can transform your certificate workflow.