Procurement teams often see insurance as a document-collection step between supplier selection and work beginning. That view misses the real value of insurance expertise.

A certificate of insurance is evidence, not a decision. It needs to be reviewed against the requirements for the supplier’s actual work, location, project, and level of exposure. A supplier can be approved in a procurement system and still have an expired policy, an insufficient limit, coverage issued to the wrong legal entity, a missing endorsement, or a certificate that doesn't evidence required additional insured status or waiver of subrogation—protections that must be supported by the applicable endorsements.

That’s why insurance readiness is part of procurement performance.

Start with the work

There is no useful insurance standard without understanding what the supplier will do. Requirements may change based on the trade, site, project, contract value, jurisdiction, or potential liability.

Before requesting a certificate, procurement and its insurance partners should clarify:

• What work will be performed and where?
• Which policies and limits apply?
• What contractual insurance protections must the certificate evidence, such as additional insured status or waiver of subrogation?
• Which client legal entity or entities must be identified in those requirements?
• Which requirements must be met before mobilization?

This approach avoids applying the same checklist to every supplier. It gives procurement a defensible standard and gives suppliers a clearer explanation of what they need to provide.

Approval isn’t current compliance

Supplier approval is a point-in-time decision. Insurance compliance can change immediately afterward.

Policies expire. Coverage changes. New projects, locations, or scopes of work can create different insurance requirements. A supplier approved for one service may not meet the requirements for another.

Procurement should be able to distinguish between a certificate that has been submitted, a certificate that has been verified, a requirement that’s missing or expired, and a requirement that doesn't meet the insurance requirements for the work. That distinction matters because each status calls for a different action. It also prevents an old approval status from creating false confidence that a supplier remains insurance compliant for the work at hand.

Handle gaps and variances deliberately

Insurance gaps don’t always mean work must stop, but they should never disappear into an inbox.

When an exception is appropriate, the record should state:

• Which requirement is being varied.
• The supplier’s current coverage or the nature of the gap
• Who approved the variance.
• Why it’s appropriate for the supplier or project.
• When the exception expires or must be reviewed.  

A documented exception isn’t a lower standard. It's a controlled decision that lets the business keep moving while preserving accountability, visibility, and an audit trail.

When a supplier doesn't meet a requirement, the next step should also be clear. The supplier should understand what was reviewed, which requirement is missing, expired, or doesn't meet the applicable insurance condition, what action is needed to address the gap, whether a broker needs to be involved, and whether supporting information or an exception request may be appropriate.

Keep insurance connected to procurement

Insurance readiness is most valuable when it supports the decisions procurement already owns: inviting a supplier to bid, creating the supplier record, releasing a purchase order, approving mobilization, or renewing a relationship.

A practical process should:

• Apply insurance requirements to the specific work and context.
• Collect and verify certificates and supporting documents.
• Surface missing, expired, or non-compliant requirements.
• Route complex questions and variances to the right experts.
• Return a current insurance status to procurement and operations.
• Monitor requirements after onboarding.

This doesn't require procurement to become an insurance department. It requires a connected workflow with clear handoffs and a current status that decision-makers can trust.

Five questions for procurement leaders

• Do our requirements reflect the supplier’s work, location, project, scope, and timing?
• Can we see which insurance requirements are pending review, verified as met, missing, expired, or not met?
• Are variances documented with an owner, rationale, approval, and review or expiry date?
• Do suppliers receive clear, actionable instructions for resolving insurance issues?

If the answer to any of these is no, the opportunity may not be to add another requirement. It may be to improve how requirements are defined, reviewed, communicated, monitored, and maintained.

What Avetta Insurance Advisory Services adds

At Avetta, Insurance Advisory Services helps clients turn their business, project, and risk needs into insurance requirements that can be applied, reviewed, and monitored consistently.

We review existing insurance requirements and recommend approaches that help clients monitor the coverage they require. This includes assessing whether requirements are aligned to the supplier’s work, location, project, and level of exposure; identifying areas that may be unclear, difficult to administer, or challenging for suppliers to meet; and providing context on relevant industry practices and market expectations.

The goal is to help clients strike an informed balance: requiring the insurance protections needed to manage risk while setting requirements that qualified suppliers can reasonably understand, evidence, and meet.

The Insurance Monitoring team reviews submitted certificate evidence against those requirements. Insurance Advisory Services supports more complex situations involving coverage limits, policy dates, insured entities, client-specific conditions, variances, and other questions that can't be resolved through a simple yes-or-no checklist. The goal isn't simply to collect certificates faster. It’s to give procurement a reliable, current answer: does the available evidence meet the applicable requirement for this work, and if not, what action, clarification, or approved variance is needed next?  

The Avetta difference

Procurement doesn't need more paperwork. It needs a dependable insurance process that turns certificates into clear decisions.

Avetta brings together configurable insurance requirements, expert review, supplier support, and ongoing monitoring so procurement can see what is complete, what needs attention, and what should happen next. In Avetta programs, customers have reported 55% faster supplier document submission and 70% fewer qualification failures. Results vary by program scope and baseline.

The value is practical: less time chasing certificates, earlier visibility into insurance gaps, fewer avoidable qualification delays, and greater confidence that an approved supplier is appropriately insured and ready for the work.

That’s what insurance readiness looks like in practice: not simply approved, but ready to perform.

Brian Freel is Manager, Insurance Advisory Services at Avetta.

Ready to move beyond certificate collection? Learn how Avetta Insurance Advisory Services helps procurement teams define the right requirements, resolve coverage gaps, and maintain a current view of supplier insurance readiness. Explore Avetta Insurance Advisory Services.