COISoftware collects a certificate of insurance from every subcontracted guard firm you deploy to a client post, reads each ACORD 25 with AI, checks general liability, assault and battery, professional liability, workers compensation and commercial auto against what your contracts require, and confirms your client is named as additional insured. Built for US private security and guard companies. Upload a COI above to see it read in seconds.
Last updated July 2026
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A subcontracted guard firm, a staffing partner and a specialist carry different risk, so security companies require different coverage by party. These are common starting points, not legal or insurance advice.
| Party type | Coverage commonly required | Why the security company verifies it |
|---|---|---|
| Subcontracted guard firms | General liability with assault and battery, professional liability, workers compensation, commercial auto, client as additional insured | The firm stands a post under your contract, so its coverage protects your account and your client |
| Armed guard providers | All of the above plus firearms and armed guard coverage, higher umbrella limits | An armed post carries force exposure an unarmed policy may exclude |
| Event and surge staffing partners | General liability with assault and battery, professional liability, workers compensation, additional insured | Short term event guards create the same use of force exposure as full time posts |
| Patrol and mobile subcontractors | General liability, professional liability, commercial auto, hired and non owned auto | Vehicle patrol adds an auto exposure a fixed post does not carry |
| Specialty consultants and investigators | Professional liability or errors and omissions, general liability | Consulting, investigation and risk advice carry a professional exposure of their own |
Set requirements to your own client contracts, licensing rules and state law. Coverages shown are common starting points, not legal or insurance advice.
A security company sits on both sides of the certificate. Your clients require you to carry high liability limits and name them as additional insured before a guard stands a post, and when you subcontract guards to cover surge events, multiple sites or new regions, you have to prove every subcontracted firm carries the coverage your master contracts promise. Security coverage also has gaps a generic certificate check misses.
Because guards use force, the most common security claim alleges excessive force, improper restraint or unlawful contact. Standard general liability policies frequently exclude assault and battery unless it is bought back by endorsement. A certificate that shows general liability but no assault and battery coverage can leave the exact claim security work generates uninsured.
Negligent security, wrongful detention and false arrest are professional failures that general liability, focused on bodily injury and property damage, does not answer. Guards need professional liability, or errors and omissions, and many claims allege both theories at once, so checking only the general liability line leaves a real exposure unverified.
When you subcontract a guard firm to cover a post under your contract, that firm works under your name. If their assault and battery or professional liability is short or lapsed and a use of force claim follows, the claim and the contract breach land on your company. Verifying every subcontractor before deployment keeps that exposure downstream.
Placing an armed guard where a subcontractor is only insured for unarmed work is a coverage gap waiting for a claim. Firearms exposure changes the policy, and matching each subcontractor coverage to whether the post is armed or unarmed is a check a generic certificate review skips.
A stadium, a corporate campus and a hospital each require different limits and different additional insured language. Proving to each client that you and your subcontractors meet their specific requirement is repetitive checking that grows with every new account.
One subcontractor on one post is manageable by email. A dozen subcontracted firms across many sites, staffed up for events and stood down after, is where renewals slip and a use of force claim exposes a certificate that lapsed weeks earlier.
The certificate a guard firm sends when you onboard it is a snapshot from that day, not proof of coverage through the contract. Confirming that every subcontractor bought the right coverage, including assault and battery and professional liability, kept it current, matched it to armed or unarmed posts, and named the client as additional insured is repetitive, rules based work across a changing roster. That is exactly what software handles well. Certificate of insurance management software reads every certificate, checks it against each client contract, and flags anything short, expired or missing, so your operations team is not chasing PDFs before a post is filled.
COISoftware reads every subcontractor certificate, checks it against each client contract, confirms assault and battery and professional liability are in place, and gives you one view of insurance compliance across every guard firm and every post.
Upload a certificate from a subcontracted guard firm or staffing partner and the AI pulls the insurer, policy numbers, coverage types, limits, effective and expiration dates, and additional insured status, even from scans and phone photos.
Set assault and battery and professional liability as required coverages, and every certificate is checked for the coverage a security claim actually needs, not just the general liability line a generic review stops at.
See whether each client entity is named as additional insured on the subcontractor policy, so the status your security contract requires is verified rather than assumed before a guard stands the post.
Flag when a subcontractor assigned to an armed post lacks firearms coverage, so you never deploy an armed guard on a policy written only for unarmed work.
Track every subcontractor across every site in one dashboard, filter by client or post, and hand any client a clean, current compliance record whenever they ask for proof.
When a subcontractor certificate is about to expire, COISoftware chases for a renewed COI automatically, so no firm is standing a post on coverage that lapsed mid contract.
COISoftware reads the ACORD 25 and the broader certificate of liability insurance, then ties every 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. Subcontracted firms are verified the same way as subcontractor COI tracking for contractors, and if you guard event sites, see how those venues track your COI in turn with COI tracking for event venues.
Standing up insurance compliance for a new post follows the same four steps.
Enter the coverages, limits and additional insured wording each client requires, and include assault and battery, professional liability and firearms coverage where the post demands it. Vary the rule by account so a stadium and a corporate campus each get the right requirement.
Tip: Copy the insurance exhibit straight from each security contract so the client requirement is tracked from day one.
Request a COI from each subcontracted guard firm and staffing partner or upload the certificates you receive. The AI reads every one automatically, so staffing a new post or a surge event does not turn into hours of manual data entry.
Each certificate is checked against the requirement for that post. Missing assault and battery, absent professional liability, an armed post covered only for unarmed work, and a missing additional insured endorsement are flagged before a guard is cleared to deploy.
Automated reminders chase any expiring certificate on any site, so coverage stays current across a surge staffed roster without operations tracking dates by hand.
Anyone responsible for proving that every subcontractor standing a post carries the coverage the client contract requires.
A security company needs to know, before a subcontractor stands a post, that the firm carries assault and battery, professional liability and the limits the client requires and names the client as additional insured. COISoftware turns each requirement into a live status, so operations sees a clear pass or flag instead of opening a stale certificate and hoping the coverage still matches the contract. Knowing what to require in the first place is covered in our guide to the insurance security guard companies need.
A firm covering multiple sites and events verifies that every subcontracted guard company carries coverage matched to armed or unarmed posts. The same dashboard tracks certificates by post, and subcontractors are verified the same way as subcontractor COI tracking for contractors.
The team handing a client a compliance record at renewal is often the one holding the risk if a certificate is missing. 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 private security companies carry general liability with assault and battery coverage, professional liability, workers compensation, and commercial auto, plus an umbrella and firearms coverage for armed posts. Clients typically require a certificate of insurance and additional insured status before a guard stands a post, with limits set by the size and risk of the site.
Because guards use force, the most common security claim alleges excessive force, improper restraint or unlawful contact. Standard general liability policies often exclude assault and battery unless it is added back by endorsement. Without it, the exact claim security work generates can be denied, which is why clients and prime firms verify assault and battery is on the certificate.
Yes. Professional liability, or errors and omissions, responds to negligent security, wrongful detention and false arrest claims that general liability does not answer. Many security claims allege both bodily injury and a professional failure at once, so companies carry both. Clients and prime contractors often require professional liability limits on the certificate before awarding a contract.
Yes. When you subcontract a guard firm to stand a post under your contract, that firm works under your name, and if their assault and battery or professional liability lapses during a use of force claim the claim and the contract breach fall on your company. Verifying and tracking each subcontractor certificate keeps that exposure with the firm that created it.
Confirm the subcontractor certificate shows firearms or armed guard coverage before assigning an armed post, because a policy written only for unarmed work may exclude the exposure. COI tracking software flags when a firm assigned to an armed post lacks the coverage, so you do not deploy an armed guard on the wrong policy.
Pricing depends on how many subcontractors, staffing partners and posts 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 security company can start reading and verifying subcontractor certificates without a sales call. You can test it on your own certificates before paying anything.
