Insurance and Surety Acronyms for Construction Buyers

Owner and GC exhibits often cite Insurance Services Office form numbers directly, because the number pins down the wording. A request for CG 20 10 and CG 20 37 together, for instance, asks for additional insured status during the work and after it. Insurers may use their own manuscript versions instead, so compare the wording, not only the number.

CGL (commercial general liability)

The core third-party liability policy for bodily injury and property damage; nearly every contract exhibit starts with its limits.

GL (general liability)

Everyday shorthand for the same policy; watch whether an exhibit's GL limit means per occurrence, general aggregate or both.

ISO (Insurance Services Office)

The organization that drafts standard policy forms many insurers adopt; an ISO number lets both sides point at the same wording.

CG 00 01 (ISO occurrence CGL coverage form)

The base form most construction liability policies build on, so endorsements are read against it.

AI (additional insured)

Status an owner or GC asks to receive on your policy; it shows up as a line item on almost every certificate request.

CG 20 10 (AI endorsement for ongoing operations)

The form exhibits name when the owner wants protection while your work is under way.

CG 20 37 (AI endorsement for completed operations)

The companion form that extends AI status after turnover; contracts often require it for several years.

CG 20 38 (automatic AI status for other parties)

Wording that can pass AI status up the chain to an owner your GC contracts with, when the written agreement calls for it.

PNC (primary and noncontributory)

Shorthand on certificates asking your policy to answer before the other party's insurance.

CG 20 01 (ISO primary and noncontributory endorsement)

The standard form insurers may attach to make PNC wording part of the policy.

WOS (waiver of subrogation)

Shorthand for giving up the insurer's recovery rights against the other party; it may need a separate endorsement on each line.

CG 24 04 (ISO waiver of transfer of rights of recovery)

The form number exhibits cite when they want the GL waiver in writing.

CG 25 03 (designated construction project aggregate)

The per-project aggregate endorsement that keeps one job's claims from draining the limit for others.

CG 22 94 (exclusion of damage to work performed by subcontractors)

An endorsement that removes the subcontractor exception; it can sharply narrow completed-work protection for a GC.

OCP (owners and contractors protective)

A separate policy bought in the owner's name for its vicarious liability from the contractor's work, sometimes required by public agencies and railroads.

SIR (self-insured retention)

An amount the insured must pay before the insurer responds; unlike a deductible, it may also apply to defense costs and can affect AI parties.

COI (certificate of insurance)

The summary document owners collect; it does not change the policy by itself.

ACORD (Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development)

The group that publishes the standard certificate forms, such as the ACORD 25 liability certificate.

Builders risk quotes and lender exhibits use their own shorthand, much of it borrowed from engineering and project finance. These letters usually mark the places where valuation, delay and defects terms are negotiated, which is where large losses on industrial and data center projects are decided.

BR (builders risk)

The property policy on the work under construction; the first question is usually who buys it and who is named on it.

COC (course of construction)

Another name for builders risk used in some regions and lender checklists; treat an exhibit's COC requirement as a builders risk requirement.

DSU (delay in start-up)

Income protection for an owner when covered damage pushes back opening; lenders on income-producing projects often ask for it.

ALOP (advance loss of profits)

The term many international and engineering markets use for delay in start-up; read it as the same family of coverage.

LEG (London Engineering Group)

The source of the LEG 1, LEG 2 and LEG 3 defects clauses; the number signals how much defect-related damage the quote gives back.

DIC (difference in conditions)

A policy or endorsement that may add perils a builders risk form leaves out, often earthquake or flood in California.

PML (probable maximum loss)

An engineering estimate of the worst likely loss, used to size earthquake, flood and catastrophe limits.

NFIP (National Flood Insurance Program)

The federal flood program; lenders may cite it when a site sits in a mapped flood zone.

TRIA (Terrorism Risk Insurance Act)

The 2002 federal law behind the program that shares certified terrorism losses with insurers; the current program runs through December 31, 2027. Quotes typically show terrorism as a line you accept or decline.

These acronyms describe who controls the insurance on a project. They appear in bid documents, enrollment manuals and subcontract riders, and each one changes what a contractor should leave in or take out of its price.

OCIP (owner-controlled insurance program)

A wrap-up the owner buys; contractors usually deduct their own insurance cost from the bid.

CCIP (contractor-controlled insurance program)

A wrap-up the GC buys; the GC typically carries the administration and a large deductible.

RCIP (rolling controlled insurance program)

A wrap-up that adds projects over time; ask whether later projects share limits with earlier ones.

CIP (controlled insurance program)

The umbrella term for OCIPs and CCIPs, and the label Texas statutes and many manuals use.

ECO (extended completed operations)

The tail of completed-work coverage a wrap-up keeps after turnover; its length matters for defect claims.

SDI (subcontractor default insurance)

A GC-owned policy that may reimburse costs when a subcontractor fails; it replaces subcontractor bonds and puts the GC in charge of prequalification.

EMR (experience modification rate)

The workers' compensation multiplier based on a company's own loss history; owners screen subcontractors with it and wrap-up administrators track it.

Bond requests and contract exhibits cite standard document families and financial schedules by their initials. None of the surety items below is insurance; they describe the instruments and records a surety relies on when it extends credit to a principal.

AIA (American Institute of Architects)

Publisher of the most widely used private construction contract forms; its insurance exhibit often sets the starting point for negotiation.

AIA A101 (owner-contractor agreement, stipulated sum)

The agreement whose Exhibit A collects insurance and bond requirements in one place.

AIA A201 (general conditions of the contract for construction)

The document that carries indemnity, waiver and property insurance provisions read alongside the exhibit.

AIA A312 (performance bond and payment bond)

The standard private-work bond form; obligees and sureties may negotiate changes to its default and notice terms.

AIA A310 (bid bond)

The standard bid bond form many private owners accept.

ConsensusDocs (consensus contract documents)

An alternative contract family developed by a coalition of industry groups; its insurance and bond provisions differ from AIA's, so cross-references need checking.

EJCDC (Engineers Joint Contract Documents Committee)

Publisher of contract forms common on municipal, water and civil infrastructure work.

GMP (guaranteed maximum price)

A price structure where the contractor carries cost overruns above a cap; sureties look closely at how contingency and allowances are handled.

CMAR (construction manager at risk)

A delivery method where the construction manager holds the trade contracts; it often decides who buys a CCIP and who is bonded.

GIA (general indemnity agreement)

The document in which the principal and its owners agree to repay the surety; it usually reaches every bond issued under the account.

WIP (work in progress)

The schedule of open contracts sureties ask for with financial statements; it reveals underbilling and profit fade.

SIA (subdivision improvement agreement)

The contract with a city or county that triggers performance, payment and warranty security for public improvements.

LOC (letter of credit)

A bank instrument some agencies accept instead of a bond; it uses bank credit lines rather than surety capacity.

NASBP (National Association of Surety Bond Producers)

The trade group for surety bond producers; it publishes bonding guidance for owners and contractors.

SFAA (Surety and Fidelity Association of America)

The trade association of surety companies; it publishes industry data and advocates on bond legislation.

Civil, underground and grading contractors meet a second alphabet from environmental regulators and from the pollution insurance market. Permit acronyms matter to insurance because the permit usually names who is responsible for discharges, and that party is the one whose pollution coverage will be tested.

CPL (contractors pollution liability)

Operations-based pollution coverage a contractor buys because the GL pollution exclusion is broad.

PLL (pollution legal liability)

Site-based environmental coverage an owner or developer buys for a scheduled property, often during acquisition.

SWPPP (stormwater pollution prevention plan)

The site plan a construction stormwater permit requires; a failed control can lead to fines and third-party claims.

CGP (construction general permit)

The stormwater permit that larger disturbed sites operate under, issued by the EPA or by a delegated state agency.

NOI (notice of intent)

The filing that puts a site under a general permit and names the responsible operator.

QSD and QSP (qualified SWPPP developer and practitioner)

California certifications for the people who write and carry out a SWPPP under the state's construction permit.

AZPDES (Arizona Pollutant Discharge Elimination System)

Arizona's permit program run by ADEQ, including its construction general permit.

HDD (horizontal directional drilling)

Trenchless boring for utilities; frac-outs of drilling fluid and utility strikes make it a pollution and liability underwriting focus.

OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)

The federal safety regulator whose excavation and trench rules shape underground contractors' loss history.

Acronyms that appear in captive feasibility studies, risk retention group filings and fronting agreements.

RRG (risk retention group)

A member-owned liability insurer under the federal Liability Risk Retention Act.

LRRA (Liability Risk Retention Act)

The 1986 federal law, 15 U.S.C. 3901 and following, that authorizes risk retention groups and purchasing groups.

PCC (protected cell captive or company)

A captive divided into cells whose assets and liabilities are kept apart.

LOC (letter of credit)

A bank's undertaking commonly used as collateral for a captive's obligations to a fronting insurer.

IPI (independently procured insurance)

Coverage bought directly from an insurer not authorized in the insured's home state, which states commonly tax.

These agencies set the license bonds, insurance filings and permit rules that sit behind many contract requirements in California, Texas, Arizona and Nevada. Knowing which one is involved tells you where to confirm a requirement before relying on a summary.

CSLB (Contractors State License Board)

California's licensing board; it requires a contractor's bond as a condition of the license.

DIR (Department of Industrial Relations)

California agency that registers contractors for public works and enforces prevailing wage.

CDI (California Department of Insurance)

California's insurance regulator, which licenses insurers and brokers doing business there.

WCIRB (Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California)

The body that calculates California experience modifications.

ROC (Arizona Registrar of Contractors)

Arizona's licensing agency; A.R.S. §32-1152 ties license bond amounts to license type and volume.

DIFI (Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions)

Arizona's insurance regulator.

ADEQ (Arizona Department of Environmental Quality)

Issuer of Arizona's construction stormwater permit.

TDLR (Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation)

Licenses specific trades in Texas; the state has no general contractor license, so contract and owner requirements carry more weight.

TDI (Texas Department of Insurance)

Texas insurance regulator, including the workers' compensation division.

TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality)

Issuer of the Texas construction stormwater general permit.

NSCB (Nevada State Contractors Board)

Nevada's licensing board; NRS 624.220 puts a monetary limit on every license, and the Board fixes the license bond.

NDOT (Nevada Department of Transportation)

Issues the permits for work in state highway right of way and lets highway contracts under NRS chapter 408.

NDEP (Nevada Division of Environmental Protection)

Issuer of Nevada's construction stormwater general permit.

NCCI (National Council on Compensation Insurance)

The rating organization that calculates workers' compensation experience modifications in many states outside California.

NAIC (National Association of Insurance Commissioners)

The organization of state insurance regulators; its consumer glossary and model laws are a neutral reference point.