Many SOW insurance clauses copy the limits from the vendor master agreement and ask for a certificate. That works for vendor companies. For an individual contractor, the clause needs to name the lines that match the work, set a proof standard, and say what happens when the contractor has no policy.
Start from the work described in the SOW. Each line of coverage answers a different loss, and a contractor doing advisory work from home does not need the same coverage as one working on a client's premises.
Workers' compensation for any contractor whose own injury is a realistic loss: on-site production, installation, field service, healthcare shifts, event work. General liability when the contractor works in your facilities or a client's, where property damage or third-party injury is the risk.
Professional liability (errors and omissions) for consulting, design, strategy, analysis and other work where the loss is a mistake in the deliverable. Match it to what the contractor produces, not to the job title in the SOW.
Media liability for contractors who create or publish content, where copyright, trademark or defamation claims are the risk. Cyber liability for contractors with access to your systems or to customer data.
Write the requirement by category of work. A SOW template with a short schedule (category of work, lines, limits) lets procurement apply the same standard to every engagement without a negotiation each time.
Limits in a vendor master agreement are usually sized for companies with their own insurance programs. An individual contractor may not carry, or be able to buy, the same limits, so a copied clause often ends with the requirement waived.
Ask your risk team for a separate schedule for individual contractors, by category of work. Keep it short enough that procurement can apply it without routing every SOW back for review.
Contractors who buy coverage through 1099Policy choose from the limits available for each line. [TK: available limits per line, from Ray.] When the SOW limits match the limits contractors can buy, the requirement can be met on the first day of the engagement.
A certificate of insurance is issued for information only. It shows what a policy looked like on the day the certificate was produced, and it does not change the policy. Your SOW should say what the certificate must show and how you will know if the policy changes.
For a certificate the contractor brings, check that the named insured matches the contractor, the policy dates cover the whole engagement, the limits meet your schedule, and the certificate holder and additional-insured fields are right. COI Review does these checks on ACORD certificates and sends only the exceptions to a person.
For a policy the contractor bought through 1099Policy, the policy record is attached to the engagement, and status changes such as a cancellation or an expiration are reported by webhook. Procurement does not need to ask for a new certificate to learn that coverage has ended.
What matters to procurement is that the policy dates cover the engagement. Contractors with short or occasional engagements often do not carry annual policies, and asking for one can rule them out.
The sample below is a starting point for your counsel. It makes coverage a condition of the engagement, sets the proof standard and the lapse rule, and lets the contractor meet the requirement with coverage they already have.
Leave classification out of the insurance clause. Requiring coverage is an insurance control, and in New Jersey, from October 1, 2026, required coverage is not evidence of independent contractor status under N.J.A.C. 12:11-1.5(g). Offering a designated provider as an option, while accepting any coverage that meets the schedule, keeps the choice with the contractor.
This language is an example, not legal advice. Review it with counsel before use.
How platforms write the same requirement →Insurance. Contractor shall maintain, at Contractor's expense and in Contractor's own name, the insurance listed in Schedule B for the category of Services in this SOW, in effect for the full term of this SOW.
Before starting the Services, Contractor shall provide a certificate of insurance or verified policy information naming [Company] as certificate holder and, where Schedule B requires it, as additional insured.
If required coverage lapses, Contractor shall not perform Services until coverage is restored.
[Company] may offer Contractor the option to obtain coverage through a provider it designates. Contractor may instead provide any coverage that meets Schedule B.See how certificate review and per-engagement coverage work with the SOWs your team already issues.