COISoftware collects a certificate of insurance from every vendor, contractor, camp operator and facility-use renter that comes onto campus, reads each ACORD 25 with AI, checks coverage and limits against your requirement matrix, and confirms the institution is named as additional insured. Built for US colleges, universities, K-12 school districts and private schools whose risk office is accountable for vendors that many departments hire. Upload a COI above to see it read in seconds.
Last updated June 2026
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Campus vendors carry very different risks, so most institutions require different coverage by category. These are common starting points, not legal or insurance advice.
| Vendor type | Coverage commonly required | Why the institution requires it |
|---|---|---|
| Construction and trade contractors | General liability, workers compensation, often umbrella, additional insured | Work on occupied campus carries injury and property risk the institution does not want to absorb |
| Youth camps and programs | General liability plus sexual abuse and molestation coverage | Programs serving minors carry abuse exposure that standard general liability does not cover |
| Charter bus and transportation | Commercial auto liability, often $5M for student transport | Moving students off campus is high-severity exposure if a crash occurs |
| Dining, catering and food vendors | General liability with product liability, sometimes liquor liability | Foodborne illness and alcohol service create claims that trace to the vendor |
| Facility-use and event renters | General liability naming the institution as additional insured | Outside groups on campus bring third-party risk for the duration of the event |
| Service and maintenance vendors | General liability and workers compensation, sometimes auto | Landscaping, janitorial, security and IT work on site carries its own liability |
Set requirements to your own contracts, board policy, facility-use agreements and state law. Limits and coverages shown are common starting points, not legal or insurance advice.
A campus runs on outside parties: construction and repair contractors, dining and catering, charter bus companies, youth camps, event renters, landscapers, security and research vendors. Many of them are hired by individual departments, not the risk office, yet the institution carries the liability when one of them is underinsured. Confirming coverage for all of them by hand is where the exposure builds.
Athletics, dining, facilities, student life and academic departments each bring on their own vendors and contractors. The central risk or procurement office is accountable for insurance compliance across all of them, but rarely sees the certificate until something goes wrong, so coverage gaps sit unnoticed across campus.
A general contractor, a charter bus operator, a summer camp and a food vendor each carry different policies and limits. Most institutions publish a minimum limit requirements matrix by vendor category, but checking each certificate against the right row of that matrix by hand is slow and easy to get wrong.
Summer camps, sports clinics, tutoring and any program serving minors usually have to carry sexual abuse and molestation coverage on top of general liability. That coverage is easy to miss on a certificate, and a missing endorsement on a youth program is one of the highest-exposure gaps a campus can have.
Outside groups rent campus space for weddings, conferences, sports and community events, and each facility-use agreement requires a certificate naming the institution as additional insured. These certificates arrive in bursts tied to event dates, not annual renewals, so they slip through a spreadsheet built for vendors.
Contracts usually require the certificate to name the institution and often its board of trustees, regents, officers and employees as additional insured. A certificate that lists the institution only as certificate holder does not extend that protection, and that difference is easy to overlook on a busy desk.
A tab of vendors with manual expiration dates fails fast once you account for every department, every camp season and every event renter across one or many campuses. Renewals slip, abuse coverage goes unchecked, and proving the institution vetted a vendor after an incident means digging through email.
The certificate a vendor emails the dining office or the athletics department is a snapshot from the day it was issued, not proof of coverage on the day the work happens. Confirming that every vendor bought the right limits for its category, carried abuse coverage where minors are involved, named the institution as additional insured, and kept the policy current is repetitive, rules-based work across a large and decentralized vendor base, which is exactly what software handles well. Certificate of insurance management software reads every certificate, checks it against your requirement matrix by vendor type, and flags anything short, expired or missing, so a risk analyst is not verifying PDFs by hand for every department.
COISoftware reads every vendor and contractor certificate, checks it against your requirement matrix by category, confirms additional insured status and abuse coverage, and gives the risk office one view of who is actually covered across every department and campus.
Upload a certificate from a contractor, caterer, charter bus company, camp operator or event renter and the AI pulls the insurer, policy numbers, coverage types, limits, effective and expiration dates, and additional insured wording, even from scans and phone photos.
Enter the minimum limit requirements your institution publishes by vendor category, and every certificate is checked against the right row, so a contractor short on general liability or a camp missing abuse coverage is flagged automatically.
For camps, youth programs and any vendor working with minors, set a rule that requires sexual abuse and molestation coverage, and any certificate without it is caught before the program starts rather than after a claim.
Track vendors hired by athletics, dining, facilities, student life and academics side by side, filter by department, category or campus, and give the risk office a single compliance picture instead of scattered spreadsheets.
See whether the institution and its trustees and officers are named as additional insured on each policy, so the status your contracts and facility-use agreements require is verified rather than assumed from a checked box.
When a vendor certificate is about to expire, COISoftware chases for a renewed COI automatically, so a lapsed policy on a campus vendor is caught before it becomes a problem.
COISoftware reads the ACORD 25 and the broader certificate of liability insurance, then ties every vendor and contractor certificate into full certificate of insurance management software and ongoing vendor insurance compliance tracking. When a certificate looks off, the same checks behind certificate of insurance verification flag it for review. Construction and trade contractors working on campus are tracked the same way as subcontractor COI tracking for contractors, and one-off campus events follow the same playbook as COI tracking for event venues.
Tracking a campus vendor base follows the same four steps as tracking a handful of vendors.
Enter the coverages and limits your institution requires, and vary them by category so a contractor, a charter bus operator, a youth camp and a food vendor each get the right rule. Include the additional insured wording and any abuse coverage your contracts require.
Tip: Mirror your published minimum limit requirements matrix, and require sexual abuse and molestation coverage for any vendor working with minors.
Request a COI from each vendor, contractor and facility-use renter, or upload the certificates departments forward to you. The AI reads every one automatically, so onboarding vendors across a whole campus does not turn into hours of manual data entry.
Each certificate is checked against the requirement for that category. Short limits, missing abuse coverage, expired policies and a missing additional insured are flagged before a contractor mobilizes or a camp opens.
Automated reminders chase any expiring certificate, so coverage stays current across every department and event without a risk analyst tracking dates by hand.
Anyone responsible for proving that every vendor, contractor and program on campus carries the coverage your contracts and board policy require.
A risk management office at a college or university is accountable for vendors that dozens of departments hire independently, from capital construction to dining to summer camps. COISoftware turns each category requirement into a live status, so a risk analyst sees a clear pass or flag instead of chasing certificates from every department by email.
A district operating many schools collects certificates from contractors, charter bus operators, food service, athletics officials and program providers, and board policy usually sets the required limits. The same dashboard tracks every school in the district, and construction and repair contractors are tracked the same way as subcontractor COI tracking for contractors.
A private school or an independent camp or program still has to prove every vendor and instructor carries current coverage, including abuse coverage for anyone working with students. To collect, verify and monitor every certificate in one place, pair this with vendor insurance compliance software, and if you are comparing platforms, our best COI tracking software roundup walks through the options honestly.
Most universities publish a minimum limit requirements matrix and require general liability of at least $1 million per occurrence from vendors, with higher limits and additional coverages by category. Charter bus operators often need $5 million in auto liability, youth camps need sexual abuse and molestation coverage, and contractors need workers compensation and umbrella limits. Every vendor should name the institution and its trustees as additional insured.
Schools track certificates of insurance by collecting a COI from each vendor and contractor, checking the coverages and limits against their requirement matrix, confirming additional insured status, and monitoring expiration so coverage stays current. Doing this by hand across many departments and campuses is slow, so most districts and colleges move to COI tracking software that reads each certificate and flags any that are short or expired.
Programs serving minors, including summer camps, sports clinics and tutoring, carry sexual abuse and molestation exposure that a standard general liability policy usually excludes or sublimits. Institutions require a specific abuse and molestation endorsement or policy so that this high-severity risk is actually covered. Confirming that endorsement is on the certificate is one of the most important checks a campus can make.
Additional insured means the institution is added to the vendor policy and can be defended and covered under it if a claim arises from the vendor work. Being listed only as certificate holder gives the school notice but no coverage. Most campus contracts and facility-use agreements require the institution, and often its board, officers and employees, to be named as additional insured, which the certificate should show.
Many institutions require $5 million in commercial auto liability from charter bus and transportation vendors carrying students, because a crash involving a busload of minors is a high-severity exposure. Some require more for athletic or out-of-state travel. The right limit depends on the trip and your board policy, and it should be confirmed on each transportation vendor certificate before students board.
Yes. Outside groups renting campus space for events, weddings, conferences or sports should provide a certificate of insurance naming the institution as additional insured for the rental period. The certificate proves the renter carries general liability that responds first if someone is injured at their event, which protects the institution from absorbing a third-party claim.
Pricing depends on how many vendors and departments you track and whether you want self-serve software or a managed service. COISoftware lists transparent monthly pricing and offers a free tier, so a single private school or a large university system can start reading and verifying certificates without a sales call. You can test it on your own vendor certificates before paying anything.
Collect, verify and track every campus vendor and contractor COI in one place.
Track construction and trade contractors on campus the same way.
Track facility-use renters and campus events tied to a date.
