Bidding Connecticut Town Work? How to Read the Insurance Requirements and Produce a COI That Passes

The Bid Packet Language That Stops Contractors Cold

Connecticut towns publish detailed insurance requirements as part of nearly every public works, school, or facilities bid packet, and the language is written for insurance professionals, not for the contractor trying to win the job. A packet demanding "ISO Form CG 2010 (04/13) and CG 2037 (04/13) or equivalent," a policy that is "primary and shall not contribute in any way," and a "waiver of subrogation in favor of the Town" is not decorative boilerplate. Every phrase in it maps to a specific coverage feature your certificate of insurance either has or does not have — and a certificate that does not match, submitted the day before a bid deadline, is a bid you cannot fix in time.

What a Representative Connecticut Town Actually Requires

Westport's published bid insurance requirements are a useful, fully public example of the pattern most Connecticut towns follow:

• Commercial general liability: $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 general aggregate, with a $2,000,000 products/completed-operations aggregate, written on an occurrence basis, coverage continuing three years after the work is completed.
• Additional insured endorsements: ISO CG 2010 (04/13) and CG 2037 (04/13), or equivalent. These are specific, named endorsement forms — a generic "additional insured" endorsement that does not match this language may not satisfy the requirement even if it uses similar words.
• Commercial umbrella or excess liability: $5,000,000 each occurrence and $5,000,000 aggregate.
• Workers' compensation and employers' liability: statutory workers' compensation, with employers' liability limits of $500,000 each accident for bodily injury by accident and disease.
• Commercial auto liability: $1,000,000 each accident.
• Primary and non-contributory wording: the contractor's policy must respond first, ahead of the town's own insurance, rather than sharing the loss proportionally.
• Waiver of subrogation in favor of the town on the general liability, auto, and workers' compensation coverages.
• An A.M. Best rating of A- (VII) or better for every carrier on the program.

Professional-services and design work frequently adds a separate errors and omissions requirement on top of the above. Requirements vary by town and by contract, so read the specific bid packet rather than assuming another town's numbers carry over — but this structure repeats closely enough across Connecticut municipalities that a contractor who understands it once can move through most bid packets quickly.

Why Each Piece Exists, in Plain Terms

• The specific ISO endorsement forms exist because "additional insured" status is not uniform. CG 2010 covers ongoing operations; CG 2037 extends that status through completed operations, after the work is finished. A town wants both, because a slip on a sidewalk you repaired last year is exactly the claim these forms are written for.
• Primary and non-contributory language exists because, without it, your carrier and the town's carrier could each argue the other should pay first — precisely the dispute a municipality does not want to referee after an injury.
• The waiver of subrogation exists so that if your insurer pays a claim, it cannot then turn around and sue the town to recover what it paid, even where the town bears some responsibility.
• The A.M. Best rating floor exists so the town is not depending on a thinly capitalized carrier to actually pay a large claim years after the contract ends.

What This Means for Your Insurance Program, Not Just Your Certificate

A contractor who can satisfy these requirements on demand generally already carries a complete commercial program: general liability at adequate limits, an umbrella or excess layer sized well above the underlying GL, workers' compensation, commercial auto, and endorsements built for exactly this kind of additional-insured request. If your current program cannot produce a matching certificate quickly, the fix is rarely a single endorsement purchased under deadline pressure — it is usually a program built with municipal work in mind from the start. See our guides to Connecticut contractor and construction insurance requirements and commercial auto insurance for Connecticut businesses for how the pieces fit together.

Review your construction insurance program, workers' compensation coverage, and commercial umbrella limits before your next bid deadline, not during it. Contact New England Insurance with a bid packet's insurance section, and we will tell you plainly whether your current program produces a certificate that passes.