Workshop · July 2026
Risk transfer and insurance basics for agency vendor contracts
Tracy Berry spent most of her career in commercial construction before joining Sedgwick, where she supports California cities and risk pools. Here is her practical guide to evaluating risk early, transferring it through the contract, and checking the endorsements behind every certificate.
Guest expert
Tracy Berry
Contract Manager (Pooling), Sedgwick
Nearly 3 decades across risk, contracts, and construction
- Background in commercial construction
- Supports California cities and agencies in risk pools
- Licensed agent and broker, commercial and personal lines
- President, Bay Area chapter, American Subcontractors Association
The session
Construction job site lessons, applied to public agency contracts
Tracy Berry is Contract Manager (Pooling) at Sedgwick, where most of the members she supports are California cities, along with transportation and vector control agencies. She joined Sedgwick just over two years ago after a career mostly in commercial construction, with time in environmental engineering and bankruptcy law. She is a licensed agent and broker for commercial and personal lines, president of the Bay Area chapter of the American Subcontractors Association, and has spent nearly three decades across risk, contracts, and construction.
On July 8, 2026 she joined us for a 60-minute primer for agency staff who work with vendors, contractors, consultants, and special event organizers. She drew on what she has seen on construction job sites, including serious injuries, and stayed past the hour to answer attendee questions on waivers, RFPs, and completed operations.
Watch the full session, view the slides, or read the takeaways below.
Key takeaways
13 takeaways from the session
Tracy's advice in four themes, from evaluating risk before the RFP to reading what a certificate can't tell you.
01–03
Evaluate risk before the contract goes out
Set requirements from the scope of work, early, before anyone prices the job.
- 01
Judge risk by the scope, never the dollar amount
Tracy comes from the electrical industry, where a $5,000 contract to work on high-voltage switchgear can carry far more risk than its price suggests. She looks at the activities instead: children, large crowds, electrical voltage, subsurface work with pollution exposure, pyrotechnics, drones, and alcohol that is served, sold, or present.
The takeaway: Base requirements on what will happen on the job, not on what the contract costs.
- 02
Start at the RFP stage
Before the RFP goes out, confirm the indemnification is in line with state law and the insurance requirements match the scope. Contract templates often carry standard limits, but those are only a starting point. A higher-risk scope may need higher limits or added coverage such as professional or pollution liability.
The takeaway: Review indemnity and insurance requirements for each scope before you ask for pricing.
- 03
Put requirements in the RFP so vendors can price them
Insurance costs money, so Tracy always shares the contract and insurance requirements with anyone giving the agency a price. "There's nothing to hide," she said. When a vendor later tries to negotiate the requirements down, you can point back to the RFP.
The takeaway: Share the full contract and insurance requirements with every bidder up front.
“Nothing's going to happen until it happens. So we always hope it's not going to, but we always prepare for it.”
Tracy BerryContract Manager (Pooling), Sedgwick04–07
Transfer risk to the party that controls it
The contract moves the financial burden and legal responsibility to the vendor who knows the work.
- 04
Transfer is the technique to reach for
Avoidance is almost impossible for an agency that has to keep operating, and control only goes so far "because humans are humans." Your own coverage shouldn't be hit all the time. Transfer moves the risk to the vendor or contractor who has the expertise and control of the work.
The takeaway: Use the contract to move risk to the party that controls the work.
- 05
Have all three documents before work starts
Risk transfer rests on an executed contract, a certificate of insurance with all required coverages, and endorsements for additional insured, primary and noncontributory, and waiver of subrogation. Tracy wants all three in place before a vendor is on site or providing services.
The takeaway: Hold work until the contract, certificate, and endorsements are all in hand.
- 06
Cover emergency purchase orders too
When an agency needs someone on site fast, for example to shut down a gas main, there may be no time for a full contract. Tracy builds a separate exhibit for service situations, referenced on the face of the purchase order, that carries indemnification and insurance requirements.
The takeaway: Attach an indemnity and insurance exhibit to any purchase order used for on-site services.
- 07
Add pass-through and cancellation language
Contracts should require vendors to put indemnification and insurance in place with their own subcontractors and subconsultants. Many carriers now give cancellation notice only to the first named insured, so Tracy's language asks for a 30-day notice endorsement and adds a sentence that makes the vendor give notice if the carrier won't.
The takeaway: Include a pass-through clause, and make the vendor responsible for cancellation notice.
08–10
Get vendors to the right coverage
Help vendors meet your requirements, and know what each policy actually covers.
- 08
Help vendors comply instead of waiving
When you reduce or waive requirements, the agency takes on that liability, and through vicarious liability it can be held responsible for its vendor. Most disputes are about limits, which an inexpensive excess or umbrella policy can fix. For small vendors who can't afford it, Tracy suggests the agency offer to pay 10 percent of the first year's premium, built into the invoicing.
The takeaway: Work with vendors to get compliant, and treat any waiver as a documented business decision.
- 09
Coverages don't overlap
Apart from cyber and tech E&O, and builders risk and installation floaters, the common coverages have no crossover. General liability excludes pollution, so a contractor needs a separate pollution policy. Licensed professionals such as architects and design engineers need professional liability in addition to general liability.
The takeaway: Match each exposure in the scope to its own line of coverage.
- 10
Confirm what an umbrella policy covers in writing
You can generally assume an excess or umbrella policy on the certificate sits over general and auto liability, and add its limits to the primary limits. Never assume it applies to professional liability or other lines. Tracy writes the question exactly as she wants the broker to read it and asks the vendor to forward it.
The takeaway: Get the broker's written confirmation before counting umbrella limits toward other coverages.
“Build relationships with your vendors. Work with them, treat them like human beings. You may need them more down the road.”
Tracy BerryContract Manager (Pooling), Sedgwick11–13
Look past the certificate
A certificate lists coverage, but the endorsements are what extend it to you.
- 11
A certificate confers no rights
The ACORD 25 form says at the top that it is for information only and does not amend, extend, or alter coverage. When a broker says additional insured status is written in the description of operations, Tracy points to those boxes and asks for a separate endorsement. Blanket coverage is fine, as long as it comes from the policy and meets your requirements.
The takeaway: Require separate endorsements or policy pages, never a note on the certificate.
- 12
Watch for endorsements that limit coverage
Tracy rejects endorsements that limit coverage to the amount of the contract or to the vendor's sole negligence. Construction needs completed operations coverage (ISO CG 20 37) as well as ongoing operations (CG 20 10 or CG 20 26). Repair, maintenance, or janitorial work with a construction component needs completed operations too.
The takeaway: Reject contract-amount and sole-negligence limits, and require completed operations for any construction component.
- 13
Save confirmations outside your inbox
Emails are records, and old messages can matter in a claim investigation. Outlook drops emails eventually, so Tracy saves confirmations, like a broker's answer about umbrella coverage, into a folder for that scope.
The takeaway: File broker and vendor confirmations by project so you can find them after a claim.
Session slides
View Tracy's slides
The 28-page deck covers risk assessment, the techniques of risk, contractual risk transfer, typical and ancillary coverages, excess and umbrella liability, certificates, endorsements, special events, and a recap.
Slide 1 · Risk transfer and insurance basics (opens the slides in a new tab) 
Slide 8 · Techniques of risk (opens the slides in a new tab) 
Slide 12 · Three main actions (opens the slides in a new tab) 
Slide 16 · Excess and umbrella liability (opens the slides in a new tab) 
Slide 18 · Certificate of insurance details (opens the slides in a new tab) 
Slide 22 · Endorsements to watch for (opens the slides in a new tab)
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