AGFG Online Member Portal RFP Questions

The FIGA Emergency Assessment [2023A - 1%] ends 09/30/2026. Do not collect the assessment for any policies with an effective date after 09/30/2026. For more information, see the news article.

The 2023A 1.0% Emergency assesment ended early because assessment collections within the FIGA premium base exceeded projected amounts. Sufficient funds were available sooner than anticipated, which meant that FIGA was able to repay the bond debt early, and thus end the assessment ahead of schedule. Ending the assessment early saved Floridians money, while maintaining FIGA’s ability to meet its statutory obligation.

Yes. The premium is assessable for all policies with an effective date prior to 09.30.2026.

By statute, FIGA does not issue credits to member insurers; however, certain scenarios will be addressed on a case-by-case basis. Contact us directly if you have questions: Assessments@AGFGroup.org.

Yes. Report all activity related to an assessable policy. This frequently reduces the overall surcharge amount owed to FIGA.

Yes. A filing can be voided and re-submitted. Please contact us directly at Assessments@AGFGroup.org to make arrangements for a new DocuSign form.

Section 631.52, Florida Statutes, explains the lines of business for which FIGA will pay a covered claim, and therefore the lines of business that are deemed assessable. Section 631.55, Florida Statutes, further divides FIGA into two separate accounts (Auto and All Other) for the purpose of assessment. All current Assessments are only for FIGA’s All Other Account and include the following lines of business:

• Aircraft
• Boiler & Machinery
• Burglary & Theft
• Commercial Multi-peril, Liability and Property (Non-Auto)
• Farm Owners, Private Crop
• Fire, Allied, Earthquake, Homeowners, Personal Liability
• Inland Marine, Pet, Watercraft
• Medical Malpractice
• Product Liability
• Private Flood

Exhibit A: Assessable Lines of Business (“LOB”) by Annual Statement Line Number
further details assessable premiums written for FIGA’s All Other Account.

Section 631.64, Florida Statutes, explains disclosure requirements for FIGA assessments.  Members are to separately show assessment surcharge on “premium statements to enable policyholders to determine amount charged for association assessments”. Most members plan to show the assessment surcharge as one line item on the declaration page.  Our recommendation is to show the amount charged on the Declaration Page as “FIGA Assessment Surcharge”.

Only the person assigned to the remittance document distributed via DocuSign can view, download, and print it with what has been entered. When the document is assigned or forwarded to another person, any data entered by the original signer will not be saved and therefore the document will be blank.

That determination is ultimately up to the FIGA Board and is based on current and future cash needs for each of the Auto or All Other Account. Based on our current cash needs for the All Other Account, a pass-through method will be used for both FIGA’s 2021, 2022, and 2023 Emergency Assessments. Members will first collect a premium surcharge from their policyholders and then remit amounts collected to FIGA.

OIR orders for the 2021 (.70%) and 2022 (1.3%) assessments indicate that “Member insurers shall first collect, and then remit to FIGA, the assessments levied in this Order on a quarterly basis.” The OIR orders for the 2022B (.70%) and 2023A Emergency (1.0%) assessments indicate “Members shall either: A. first collect, and then remit to FIGA, the assessments levied in this Order on a quarterly basis….or B. make the quarterly payments referenced above, in 5.A., to FIGA equal to the amount of premium written in the previous quarter for the All Other Account multiplied by 0.7% if the member insurers elect not to recoup the assessment.”

Surcharges are applied on a policy year basis for policies beginning during the Assessment Year.

For 2022, the assessment surcharge was calculated as 1.3% multiplied by direct written premium for new or renewal policies with term effective dates beginning July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023 (Assessment Year). MGA, EMPA, and other policy fees were not assessable. For 2021, the assessment surcharge was calculated as 0.7% multiplied by direct written premium for new or renewal policies with term effective dates beginning January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022 (Assessment Year). MGA, EMPA, and other policy fees were not assessable.

Section 631.57 (3)(g), Florida Statutes, explains that members shall treat the failure to pay the surcharge the same as if the policyholder failed to pay their premium.

No. Assessments levied by FIGA are not premium and are not subject to premium taxes, any policy fees, other taxes or commission.

Members can remit surcharge payments to FIGA by check, Wire, or ACH.

When remitting via check, make checks payable and mail to:
Florida Insurance Guaranty Association, Inc.
P.O. Box 14249
Tallahassee, FL 32317

When remitting via wire or ACH transfer:
Wire and ACH information can be obtained from the QSR and ASR forms or by emailing assessments@agfgroup.org. When remitting surcharge payments via wire or ACH transfer, please include the NAIC number and company name in the payment remittance details. If remitting one payment for multiple companies in a group, please provide the NAIC number and surcharge amount for each company on the check remittance documentation or in the wire/ACH payment remittance details, in order to ensure that payments are received and applied correctly.

Click here to obtain FIGA's W-9 Form.

Yes. Members are still required to submit the initial remittance form [a zero report] and the annual reconciliation even if they do not write assessable lines of business. Per the note on the quarterly remittance form, we will suspend subsequent quarterly reporting once we’ve received and processed the initial filing and have been contacted by the company to do so in writing. Those requests can be sent to assessments@agfgroup.org.

Yes, but they should provide the NAIC number and assessment amount for each company included in the group, either on the check remittance documentation or in the wire payment detail fields.

Member companies will only remit surcharge amounts collected from policyholders, and will be given the opportunity to “true-up” or reconcile amounts following the Assessment Year.

Our recommendation is to round assessment surcharge similar to other premium amounts listed on the declaration page of the policy.

To update member representative contact information, please send your request to Assessments@agfgroup.org.  Please include the company name, individual representative name, and contact information in your request.

Members can reach a FIGA representative at (850) 386-9200, or they can submit their questions via email to Assessments@agfgroup.org.

Assessments are applied to admitted policies only.

The assessments are additive.

When you combine all three, policyholders should be surcharged the following rates for new policies issued or renewed starting:

1/1/2022 – 6/30/2022  => 0.70%
7/1/2022 – 6/30/2023  => 2.00%
7/1/2023 – 12/31/2023 => 0.70%

No, the assessment is based on the effective date of the policy.  The effective date in this example is 8/1/2021 and therefore the assessment does not apply.  If the effective date was 8/1/2022 through 8/1/2024, then the assessment would apply to the entire amount of the policy premium for the multi-year term.

No, the FIGA assessment is not considered a sales tax.

Yes.  An assessment applies to endorsements made to policies with an effective date within the assessment year.

No.

No – the assessment is based on a policy year, and the annual report is based on a calendar year.

Your company is receiving a remittance document because, according to the Office of Insurance Regulation, it is authorized to write one or more of the assessable lines in the State of Florida, and therefore must report an initial filing even if it is zero. If it is zero and the company will not write any of the assessable lines in the future, FIGA will suspend the quarterly reporting once the initial filing is received and processed, and it receives a request for that suspension in writing via email to Assessments@agfgroup.org. Those instructions are also indicated on the Quarterly Surcharge Remittance documents.

NO. The remittance document must be submitted via DocuSign in order for it to be processed and for any surcharge payment received to be properly applied to the appropriate company. Detailed instructions on reporting can be found in the FIGA Quarterly Surcharge Remittance Reporting Guide.

Yes. Reporting is still required even if it is zero.

Send an email requesting the contact update to Assessments@agfgroup.org, including the new contact’s full name and email address. The remittance document will then be re-routed to the new contact’s email address. Any additional updates that may be needed (name, phone number, address, title, etc.) must be entered on the actual form in order for a permanent update to occur in FIGA’s system records. Once FIGA has received and processed the remittance document, the system will automatically update the contact information, and all future remittances will be sent to the new contact.

NO, but the assigned contact can download or print the remittance document and then forward a copy to anyone they choose. The document can also be reassigned to a different contact by the original signer if someone else is responsible for completing and signing it. Instructions on assigning the remittance document to someone else can be found in the FIGA Quarterly Surcharge Remittance Reporting Guide.

Suspension of subsequent reporting after the initial filing only applies to the quarterly reporting. Remittance of the Annual Surcharge Reconciliation Affidavit [ASR] is required as it serves as a true-up of what has been previously reported. The ASR affidavit will combine data submitted in prior reports for members to update and or confirm policyholder surcharges reported and collected during the Assessment period.

That decision is up to each member company to determine; FIGA has no preference regarding who signs the remittance document.

Send an email to Assessments@agfgroup.org for formal verification of the banking information.

Send an email to Assessments@agfgroup.org so FIGA can research whether the company is subject to the Assessment and/or whether it was incorrectly excluded from the distribution.

The W-9 (Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification form) can be downloaded from the figafacts.com website via the following link: W-9 Form

FIGA’s assessments are computed and billed based on the immediate needs of the guaranty association that has claims it needs to pay. Claim files come in from the insolvent insurance company; the adjusters review them, and set appropriate reserves on those files. (Reserves are the projected ultimate liability under terms of a given policy.) In Florida the assessment cap is 2% of net direct-written premium for regular assessments and an additional 2% for emergency assessments for insolvencies relating to hurricanes. FIGA cannot assess an insurance company more than the statutorily set cap on assessments.

Technical documentation for the Membership Application and Deposit Tracking System is not available for distribution at this juncture but will be provided to the selected respondent at the appropriate stage of engagement.

Secure direct database access will be supported. We are also open to REST or SOAP integrations, provided they are compatible with our system requirements.

Details regarding the key data objects or fields expected to be exchanged between systems cannot be disclosed at this juncture but will be made available to the selected respondent at the appropriate stage.

New user registration should be managed via the Member Portal itself.

There are no specific requirements for MFA. SMS OTP, Google Authenticator, and Microsoft Authenticator are all acceptable options.

AGFG does not have a defined preference for user account management. The solution may rely solely on internal user accounts or integrate with external identity providers (e.g., SSO, LDAP, OAuth2), based on what is most suitable for the proposed architecture.

Details regarding predefined user roles or access levels cannot be disclosed at this juncture but will be made available to the selected respondent at the appropriate stage.

AGFG has no preference regarding the hosting region.

Per the RFP [page 3, General Requirements], we are seeking a cloud-based hosting model and are open to various providers, however it is important to AGFG that the Online Member Portal be integrated with it core tools (Microsoft SQL server and VB.NET) and is flexible enough to efficiently handle future integrations and updates.

There aren't any restrictions regarding data residency. A sandbox or staging environment for UAT is required for development and testing.

AGFG is open to both an out-of-the-box solution like a standard AMS, provided it aligns well with our requirements, as well as a custom-developed option if that proves to be a better fit. Our priority is finding a solution that best supports our current and future needs for the Online Member Portal, so we're evaluating all viable approaches.

At this juncture, AGFG does not require any additional compliance beyond HIPAA and GDPR. However, we reserve the right to introduce additional compliance requirements, such as SOC 2, FedRAMP, or state-specific standards, if they are deemed necessary in the future.

Payment processing will not be a function of the online member portal; therefore, PCI DSS compliance is not required.

The online member portal will not support any financial transactions, including payment of member assessments or reconciliations. As such, there is no preferred or existing payment processor to be considered.

The details of our data retention policy cannot be shared at this juncture but will be provided to the selected respondent during the next phase of the process.

AGFG prefers that 24/7 technical support for critical items be available post go-live. However, for general non-critical issues, support during standard business hours is acceptable.

AGFG expects response and resolution times to follow industry best practices, with prioritization based on incident severity. Detailed service-level targets will be established in coordination with the selected vendor during the contractual phase.

AGFG expects that regular data backups will be conducted as part of standard operational procedures. Adequate data redundancy and disaster recovery capabilities must be implemented to ensure business continuity and minimize the risk of data loss or extended system outages.

Yes, AGFG requires the provision of comprehensive training materials, user documentation, and live training sessions to support both members and internal staff during the rollout and ongoing use of the system.

A predefined budget range cannot be shared at this juncture but will be discussed with the selected respondent during the negotiation phase of this process.

Yes, AGFG will designate a dedicated internal resource—such as a product owner or technical lead—to actively support and facilitate the implementation process.

User acceptance testing (UAT) procedures will be developed as part of the implementation process, and defined acceptance criteria must be met before the system is deployed to production.