Private Provider Insurance Requirements

All private professional providers providing plan review or inspection services pursuant to this subsection shall secure and maintain insurance coverage for professional liability (errors and omissions) insurance. The limits of such insurance shall be not less than $1 million per claim and $1 million in aggregate coverage for any project with a construction cost of $5 million or less and $2 million per claim and $2 million in aggregate coverage for any project with a construction cost of more than $5 million. Such insurance may be a practice policy or project-specific coverage. If the insurance is a practice policy, it shall contain prior acts coverage for the private professional provider. If the insurance is project-specific, it shall continue in effect for two years following the issuance of the certificate of final completion for the project. A local enforcement agency, local building official, or local government may establish, for private professional providers working within that jurisdiction, a system of registration listing the private professional providers within their stated areas of competency. The permit applicant shall verify compliance with the insurance requirements of this subsection.

Local Government May Require Prequalification of Private Plan Reviewers and Inspectors

Local governing authority may provide for the prequalification of private professional providers who may perform plan reviews or inspections pursuant to this subsection. No ordinance implementing prequalification shall become effective until notice of the governing authority’s intent to require prequalification and the specific requirements for prequalification have been advertised in the newspaper in which the sheriff’s advertisements for that locality are published, and by any other methods such local authority ordinarily utilizes for notification of engineering, architecture, or construction-related solicitations. The ordinance implementing prequalification shall provide for evaluation of the qualifications of a private professional provider only on the basis of the private professional provider’s expertise with respect to the objectives of this subsection, as demonstrated by the private professional provider’s experience, education, and training. Such ordinance may require a private professional provider to hold additional certifications, provided that such certifications are required by ordinance for plan review personnel currently directly employed by such local governing authority.