Commercial submission intake and clearance: every broker submission read, keyed, cleared and checked against appetite before an underwriter opens it
Submissions ready to price the same day, poor fits declined in minutes.
See one case, screen by screen ↓It is the work between a broker’s email and an underwriter’s first look: reading the ACORD forms, SOV and loss runs, keying them, checking that no other office or broker already has the account, and testing the risk against appetite. Commercial Submission Intake & Clearance has six agents do that as each email arrives, so the underwriter starts with a submission that is keyed, cleared and checked.
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A broker emails an ACORD 125 with the 126 and 140, a schedule of values, five years of loss runs and the financials to a shared underwriting mailbox. Someone on the submission desk opens it, retypes it into the policy system, searches the book to see whether another office or another broker already has the account, checks it against the appetite guide, and only then puts it in an underwriter’s queue — often days later.
In E&S the same risk can arrive from two wholesalers in different formats and under slightly different names. The duplicate slips through clearance, an underwriter spends a day on a file another office is already quoting, and a risk the guide would never write gets its answer after a week, which sours the broker.
Estimated split, in working hours, for a typical middle-market submission — by hand and with the solution.
Six agents read, key, clear and check every submission as it arrives; the underwriter flicks each card to Quote, Need info or Decline.
At 08:47 on Monday 12 October, a wholesaler emails a cold-storage account that another wholesaler sent to the Atlanta office three days earlier. Here is what happens next, screen by screen, in the working solution.
Dana opens the triage inbox for the Central region: 47 submissions since 06:00, 37 triaged, 10 to triage. Broker emails arrive on the left; each submission forms in the middle with its insured, class, TIV, lines, effective date, completeness and a clearance light; on the right are three lanes — Quote 17, Need info 8, Decline 12. A certificate request has already gone to policy service, and a signed ACORD 125 has been added to the Brennard Packaging file it belongs to.
“Flick: Q quote · N need info · D decline”
Caleb Strand at Fenmore Specialty Brokers, wholesale for Bramblecote Insurance Agency, sends Redwater Cold Storage, LLC — property and general liability, effective 1 Dec 2026 — with the ACORD 125, 126 and 140, an SOV, loss runs from two prior carriers and 2025 financials. The mailbox reader sorts them in 0.8 s; the keyer keys 186 fields, each linked to its page, in 14.2 s.
“186 fields keyed, each linked to its page · 2 missing, marked and not guessed”
The SOV shows three warehouses: Louisville, KY at $27,900,000, Nashville, TN at $13,260,000 and Memphis, TN at $7,480,000 — $48,640,000 TIV. The ammonia supplement’s question 14, the date of the last PSM compliance audit, is blank, and the 2021 Bluegrass Indemnity loss run stops at page 1 of 2. Both are marked missing, not filled in.
While the submission was still forming, clearance searched 41,820 accounts, 6,214 open submissions and 18,905 in-force policies across all four offices. It found SUB-ATL-26-08817, keyed in Atlanta as “Red Water Cold Storage, L.L.C.”, sent by Quillfield Wholesale on Fri 9 Oct at 14:12 for Coastal Plain Insurance Partners, with Tom Becker quoting to a 16 Oct target. Match 97%: the same FEIN, 3 of 3 locations and the same contact, Gail Torrance, CFO.
“Clearance light turns red — before anyone opened the file”
Redwater is in appetite under R-31, but the first complete submission holds the account for 30 days, to 8 Nov. Dana flicks it to Decline and the clearance notice to Fenmore is drafted for the submission desk lead to sign: a broker-of-record letter signed by the insured within 10 business days, by 26 October, would reopen it, and both brokers would be told. Dana does not spend a day on a file she cannot win.
“Blocked by clearance, not by appetite.”
Pinecrest Fireworks Supply Co. came in at 08:43 from Jared Kim at Ostrander Excess & Surplus: wholesale distribution and storage of 1.4G consumer fireworks in Indiana. Rule P-12 — explosives, fireworks and ammunition, do not write in any state — fired, and the decline note was drafted with the rule cited. Dana flicks it to Decline and the note goes to Jared Kim four minutes after the email arrived.
The appetite checker never declines on its own — the underwriter flicks.
Hollis Fabrication Group, sent by Owen Pryce at Tessaro Risk Partners: structural steel in Dayton and Springfield, Ohio, $18,250,000 TIV, property, GL and a $10M umbrella, effective 15 Nov. Clear — the nearest name, Hollis Machine Works, matches 61% with a different FEIN — in appetite under M-04, and 100% complete. Dana flicks it to Quote.
“Hollis Fabrication ranked #2 in your pricing queue · ready to price today”
Hollis lands at #2 in Dana’s pricing queue with a fit of 90 and an estimated premium of $214,500, behind Brennard Packaging. Eight submissions are ready for her to price, $1,516,300 in estimated premium. Anything above her $50M authority goes to Martin Delacroix, the regional underwriting manager.
“Email to ready to price, median 5 h 40 m · this week · target the same business day”
Saltmarsh Marina & Boatyard is 71% complete. The request to Mira Castellanos at Halvard & Crane lists three things: loss runs for 2022 and 2023, year built for 3 of 4 locations (SOV column F is blank on rows 2, 3 and 4), and the fuel dock spill prevention plan that R-44 asks for above 50,000 gallons a year. It goes when the submission is flicked to Need info; chasers follow at 24 and 48 hours.
“Everything else is in hand. We will be ready to quote within a day of receiving these.”
Over the last 30 days the Central region received 1,002 submissions from 10 brokers and wholesalers. The screen shows each one’s share in appetite, complete on arrival, quoted and bound — and the duplicates: 14 caught, 9 of them between two wholesalers, none quoted twice.
The same Monday morning, seen by the four people who carry it — what their day looked like, and what it looks like now.
Six agents read, key, clear and check every submission as it arrives; the underwriter flicks each card to Quote, Need info or Decline.
Watches the region’s submission mailboxes, splits each email and sorts every attachment by type — ACORD 125, 126, 127, 130, 140, schedule of values, loss runs, financials, supplements — and routes non-submissions such as certificates and endorsements to the right team.
Keys the applicant, locations, values, coverages, prior carrier and loss history into the submission, with the source page and box for every value.
Matches the named insured, DBAs, FEIN, addresses and contact against every office’s accounts, open submissions and in-force policies while the submission is still forming, scores the match and applies the clearance rules: first-in, broker of record, prior declines.
Tests class, state, size, TIV and loss history against the appetite guide, returns write, refer or do not write with the rule, routes above the underwriter’s authority to the regional manager, and drafts the decline note for prohibited classes.
Scores how complete the submission is for each line and drafts the request to the broker for what is missing.
Ranks cleared submissions by fit, size and days to the effective date, and routes them by authority and workload.
Decide each card and every clearance conflict. The agents propose; a named person decides.
Ask about any submission, clearance match, rule or broker — or what you can price today. Every answer points to its source.
Who else has Redwater Cold Storage?
Quillfield Wholesale does. Renee Ashby submitted it to the Atlanta office on Fri 9 Oct at 14:12 for Coastal Plain Insurance Partners, and Tom Becker is quoting it, target 16 Oct. Fenmore’s submission matches it at 97%: the same FEIN 61-2913447, the same three warehouses and the same CFO. Under the first-in rule Quillfield holds it to 8 Nov; Fenmore can reopen it only with a broker-of-record letter by 26 Oct.
Why is Pinecrest Fireworks out of appetite?
Rule P-12: we do not write the storage or sale of fireworks in any state. The ACORD 125 describes wholesale distribution and storage of 1.4G consumer fireworks with two magazines. The decline note to Jared Kim at Ostrander is drafted with the rule cited — it was ready 4 minutes after the email arrived.
What is Saltmarsh Marina missing?
Three things, so it is 71% complete: loss runs for 2022 and 2023 (the runs cover 2021, 2024 and 2025 only), year built for 3 of 4 locations (SOV column F is blank), and the fuel dock spill plan R-44 asks for above 50,000 gallons a year. The request to Mira Castellanos at Halvard & Crane is drafted; it goes when you flick it to Need info.
Which submissions can I price today?
Eight are cleared, in appetite and complete, ranked with Brennard Packaging at the top. Hollis Fabrication is #2: 100% complete, clean five years, $214,500 estimated.
12 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
Clearance, appetite, clocks and routing are settings for each region — every change is saved as a new rule version on the audit trail.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Match threshold — name, FEIN, addresses and contact together | 85% | 70–95 %, in steps of 5 |
| Search scope — which offices clearance looks in | All 4 offices | All 4 offices · Central only |
| First-in hold | 30 days | 15 · 30 · 45 · 60 days |
| Broker-of-record window | 10 business days | 5 · 10 · 15 · 20 business days |
| Middle-market minimum — below this TIV, route to Small Business | $5.0M | $2.5M · $5.0M · $7.5M · $10.0M |
| Your authority — above this TIV, route to the regional manager | $50M | $25M · $50M · $75M · $100M |
| Ready to price, from the email arriving | Same business day | Same business day · Within 24 hours · Within 48 hours |
| Broker chasers, when a request is not answered | 24 and 48 hours | 24 and 48 hours · 48 hours only · Off |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample submissions · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate · “typical” = published figures (QuoteSweep: 3–7 business days to quote; 25% of submissions out of appetite, SortSpoke 2023; 60% of commercial submissions unquoted, IVANS 2022). People, carriers, brokers, wholesalers and insureds named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
It is the work between a broker’s email and an underwriter’s first look: reading the ACORD forms, SOV and loss runs, keying them, checking that no other office or broker already has the account, and testing the risk against appetite. Commercial Submission Intake & Clearance has six agents do that as each email arrives, so the underwriter starts with a submission that is keyed, cleared and checked.
The clearance checker matches the named insured, DBAs, FEIN, mailing and location addresses and contact together against every office’s accounts, open submissions and in-force policies, so “Red Water Cold Storage, L.L.C.” still matches Redwater Cold Storage, LLC. Above the match threshold (85% by default) it applies the first-in, broker-of-record and prior-decline rules and shows the evidence side by side.
The submission desk lead. The agents recommend and draft the clearance notice; the desk lead can keep the account with the first broker and notify the second, tell both brokers and wait for a broker-of-record letter, or release it — which, without a signed letter, needs the regional underwriting manager’s approval.
Yes, along with schedules of values, loss runs and financials in PDF, scan or spreadsheet form. Every keyed field links to the page and box it came from, and a value that is not in the file is marked missing rather than guessed.
No. The appetite checker returns write, refer or do not write with the rule cited and drafts the decline note for a prohibited class, but the underwriter flicks the submission to Decline and sends the note. Risks above the underwriter’s authority are routed to the regional manager.
The completeness and request writer scores each submission by line and drafts a request listing only what is missing and why it matters — for example, loss runs for two missing years or a blank year-built column in the SOV. A person sends it; chasers follow at 24 and 48 hours if there is no reply.
Yes. The match threshold, which offices clearance searches, the first-in hold, the broker-of-record window, the middle-market minimum, each underwriter’s authority, prohibited classes and the clocks are all settings, and every change is saved as a new rule version on the audit trail.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your appetite guide, clearance rules, authority letters and a sample of past submissions — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own submissions first.
Loss summaries in minutes, not an hour per account, each claim traced.
1-min demoSchedule of Values ValidationEvery location geocoded and its COPE gaps flagged before the property is priced.
1-min demoUnderwriting Authority & Referral ManagementAnswers in seconds, each referral tied to its rule and authority letter.
1-min demoWe’ll run Commercial Submission Intake & Clearance on a sample of your own broker submissions.