Insurance
Before starting work on any contracts, your company will need to provide proof of insurance and the types of insurance you need will depend on your company’s operations so you may need more or different coverage as your company grows.
Although insurance is expensive, many contracts specifically require it and it protects, you, your employees and your company from liabilities that can put you out of business overnight.
TYPES OF INSURANCE
Mandatory for most government contracts:
Workers’ Compensation: This covers accidents and injuries to employees
General liability: This covers equipment damage or replacement, 3rd party injury (someone is injured on your property), in the case of fire, accidents, destruction of property, natural disaster etc.
Automobile insurance: Critical for company cars and when an employee is traveling for work
Will likely become mandatory as you grow and take on more “critical” work:
Errors and Omissions: Covers you if your client thinks you’ve made a mistake doing work for them and believe you owe them money (Especially important in the IT industry: For example, if there is lost data from bad coding)
Employment Practices Liability Insurance: Covers any fault in employment practices, such as when employees sue.
Directors and officers: Covers claims made against an individual for their actions while running a company
Mandatory when contract specifies work overseas
Defense Base Act: This is workers compensation for international companies
Recommended when contract is in a hazardous location
Life insurance: Recommended if you are working in dangerous areas
Kidnapping: If one of your people gets kidnapped they pay the ransom
How do I know what insurance policies I need? Most contracts will tell you what insurance is required, though they usually do not tell you what is recommended, so be sure to evaluate what insurance you may need beyond what is required
Evaluating providers:
Make sure they understand the government space because there are different requirements when working with the government
Ask for references
Ask around for recommendations: the provider themselves will only provide you with positive recommendations so look for outside references.
When do I need it? There is no downside to identifying the insurance provider you like and getting a quote now and checking their references now then waiting till you win a contract to buy the policy.
Note: You will want to include insurance costs into the budget section of your proposals to the government so make sure you have it.
Recommended providers:
- Gov Tech insurance (for IT and professional services providers)