Quick Answer
Every DC government contract requires insurance. The DC Office of Risk Management (ORM) sets the minimum coverage floors and individual agencies cannot lower them. Four coverages are required on every contract. What changes by contract type — consulting, IT, staffing, construction, health — is everything layered on top of those four.
What is a Certificate of Insurance?
A Certificate of Insurance (COI) is a one-page document your insurance broker issues that proves you carry the coverage a contract requires. It shows your policy limits, your coverage types, and names the District of Columbia as an additional insured. When you win a DC government contract, you have ten days from execution to submit your COI through the OCP submissions portal. If you submit the wrong one, the contract can be pulled.
Who sets the requirements?
The DC Office of Risk Management (ORM) sets the minimum insurance standards for every DC government contract and every DC government grant. Individual agencies cannot lower those floors. ORM reviews the statement of work on contracts over $100,000 before the solicitation even goes public, and the insurance requirements are baked in based on what the work actually involves.
The requirements are published in two separate matrices: one for contracts, one for grants. Read the one that matches your opportunity before you bid, not after you win.
The four coverages required on every DC contract
These apply to every DC government contract regardless of type or size. They are the floor:
- Commercial General Liability: $1 million per occurrence, $2 million aggregate. Covers bodily injury and property damage your business causes to third parties.
- Auto Liability: $1 million combined single limit. Covers owned, non-owned, and hired vehicles. If your employees drive to a job site in their own cars, this applies.
- Workers' Compensation: Statutory limits required by DC law. Mandatory if you have employees working in DC.
- Employers' Liability: $500,000 per accident, $500,000 disease per employee, $500,000 disease policy limit. Covers claims from employees that fall outside the workers' comp system.
What changes by contract type
Everything above the four-coverage floor changes based on what your contract involves:
| Contract Type | Key Additional Coverages |
|---|---|
| Consulting / Professional Services | $2M umbrella · $1M cyber · $1M/$2M E&O · $10K crime |
| IT (under $100K) | $2M umbrella · $1M cyber · E&O · $50K crime · Software/App Mgmt |
| IT ($101K–$500K) | $2M umbrella · $2M cyber · E&O · $100K crime |
| IT (over $500K) | $4–5M cyber · E&O · $200K–$400K crime |
| Staffing | $10M umbrella · $1M cyber · E&O incl. medical · $100K crime · $1M/$2M EPL |
| Construction | $10M umbrella · $2M cyber · $5M E&O · $2M environmental · Builder's Risk |
| Health / Youth | $10M umbrella · $5M cyber · medical E&O · $100K crime · $1M environmental |
Four coverages that catch people off guard
- Sexual Abuse and Molestation (SAM) insurance is required any time your work involves contact with vulnerable populations: children, elderly individuals, or people with disabilities. It runs $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate. Some carriers do not write it, and it takes longer to bind. If your contract involves youth services or health programs, get this process started before you bid.
- Cyber liability scales dramatically with contract value and data access. For IT contracts over $500,000 with access to District data, you may need $4 to $5 million in coverage. Know your current policy limit before you bid on IT work.
- Employment Practices Liability (EPL) is required on staffing contracts. It covers wrongful termination, harassment, and retaliation claims from employees placed at DC agencies.
- Environmental or Pollution Liability applies to construction, health facilities, laboratory testing, and any work involving hazardous materials. At $1 to $2 million depending on contract type.
How to get your COI and submit it
Call or email your insurance broker. Tell them you have a DC government contract and need a COI. Give them three things: the contract number, the specific coverage requirements from the solicitation, and the additional insured language.
The certificate holder line must read: District of Columbia, followed by the contracting agency's address. The additional insured endorsement must name the District of Columbia explicitly. Waiver of Subrogation is required. On claims-made policies, the retroactive date must precede your contract's effective date.
Your broker can usually issue the COI the same day or next business day. Submit it through the OCP Certificate of Insurance submissions portal at ocp.dc.gov within ten days of contract execution.
The five mistakes that cause rejections
- Wrong limits — matching a different contract type in the ORM matrix instead of the one you won.
- Missing additional insured endorsement — the District of Columbia must be explicitly named.
- Expired certificate — pulling a COI months ago for the bid stage and submitting that same file after award.
- Wrong retroactive date on a claims-made policy.
- Missing Waiver of Subrogation.
The one thing that prevents all five: read the insurance section of the solicitation before you bid. The requirements are in there. They are specific. Match them exactly.
For the full written guide with the complete ORM coverage matrix, every contract type broken down, and direct links to ORM and the OCP submission portal, see the DC Certificate of Insurance guide, and browse all DC, Maryland, and Virginia document walkthroughs.