Who Should Collect and Review Vendor COIs?
One person should own the collection process, but the person chasing attachments does not have to be the person deciding complex coverage questions. Assign responsibility for requirements, document review, exceptions, renewals and records explicitly.
Separate the decisions
The contract or risk owner approves insurance requirements with the relevant professional advice. An administrator can send the request, record receipt and identify obvious missing information. A qualified reviewer handles policy and endorsement questions that exceed that administrator’s role.
The person authorizing a vendor to start work should know whether insurance review is complete and whether an exception is pending. Receipt of a PDF should not silently become work authorization.
Define a practical handoff
Record the legal vendor name, agreement, work scope, required documents and review deadline at onboarding. Send that information to the collector in a consistent form. When a gap appears, name the reviewer and the specific question rather than forwarding an unexplained email chain.
Use the onboarding checklist and review checklist as shared reference points. Keep sensitive tax, licensing or claims records in the approved systems for those records.
A hypothetical team
A small GC has an office administrator collect certificates and enter policy dates. The project manager owns start authorization, and the broker helps with a disputed waiver condition. The administrator records the question and follow-up owner instead of interpreting an unfamiliar endorsement alone.
Assign renewals before the first policy expires
Choose who receives reminders, contacts vendors and closes the request after review. Cover absences and staff departures. An automated email can start follow-up, but a person still needs to interpret the returned evidence and approve unresolved issues.
Certy can support collection, extracted-field review and renewal follow-up. It does not supply a managed insurance review team, a new legal approval authority or multi-role permissions for a complex organization.
Review the process, not just the count
At a monthly review, check outstanding questions, aging requests and upcoming renewals. The compliance report template includes owner and due-date fields so unresolved work stays actionable. If nobody has authority to approve an exception, solve that responsibility gap rather than creating another spreadsheet status.
Frequently asked questions
Can an administrator collect certificates?
Yes. Define what the administrator can check and which policy or contract questions must be referred to a qualified reviewer.
Does automation remove the need for a review owner?
No. It can reduce collection and reminder work, but someone must still assess uncertain evidence, approve exceptions and authorize next steps.