What does "11 85" mean on a form number?

The month and year ISO published that edition: November 1985. 07 04 is July 2004, 04 13 is April 2013 and 12 19 is December 2019.

Can my agent just write "CG 20 10 11 85" on the certificate?

No. A certificate reports the policy; it cannot add a form the policy does not carry, and New York law prohibits a certificate that alters coverage. The form has to be on the policy, or the general contractor has to accept what is.

Can you check the insurance requirements in my contract?

Yes. Paste the insurance section into our free Contract Insurance Decoder and it names the endorsement behind each clause, flags the ones that are often missing, and prints a checklist, without the text leaving your browser. Send that with your current policy and a licensed agent compares them line by line, usually the same business day.

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My contract requires CG 20 10 11 85. Can I get it?

Rarely, and you usually do not need it. The 1985 edition of CG 20 10 covered the additional insured for "your work", which reached completed operations in one form; later editions cover ongoing operations only. The practical equivalent is a current CG 20 10 (12 19 or 04 13) plus CG 20 37, or the blanket pair CG 20 38 plus CG 20 40, accepted in writing by the general contractor.

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The forms, side by side

Form	What it does	Blanket or scheduled	Carrier availability	What to ask your agent	Common trap
CG 20 10 11 85	Covered the party for "your work", in progress and finished	Scheduled	Rarely issued today	Will the general contractor accept current forms?	Signing a contract you cannot satisfy and finding out at claim time
CG 20 10 12 19 / 04 13	Ongoing operations, caused in whole or in part by you	Scheduled	Widely available	Which edition is on our policy?	Covers nothing once the work is finished
CG 20 37 12 19 / 04 13	Completed operations for the scheduled party	Scheduled	Widely available	Is CG 20 37 on the policy too?	Missing on cheaper policies
CG 20 38 + CG 20 40	The blanket pair, ongoing plus completed	Blanket	Varies by carrier	Can we offer the blanket pair instead?	Needs a written contract signed before the work

CG 20 10 11 85
What it does
Covered the party for "your work", in progress and finished
Blanket or scheduled
Scheduled
Carrier availability
Rarely issued today
What to ask your agent
Will the general contractor accept current forms?
Common trap
Signing a contract you cannot satisfy and finding out at claim time
CG 20 10 12 19 / 04 13
What it does
Ongoing operations, caused in whole or in part by you
Blanket or scheduled
Scheduled
Carrier availability
Widely available
What to ask your agent
Which edition is on our policy?
Common trap
Covers nothing once the work is finished
CG 20 37 12 19 / 04 13
What it does
Completed operations for the scheduled party
Blanket or scheduled
Scheduled
Carrier availability
Widely available
What to ask your agent
Is CG 20 37 on the policy too?
Common trap
Missing on cheaper policies
CG 20 38 + CG 20 40
What it does
The blanket pair, ongoing plus completed
Blanket or scheduled
Blanket
Carrier availability
Varies by carrier
What to ask your agent
Can we offer the blanket pair instead?
Common trap
Needs a written contract signed before the work

The detail

The 11 85 edition of CG 20 10 is still reproduced and taught as the older, broader form in current additional insured training material.
ISO endorsements reproduced in Risk & Insurance Education Alliance, "Certificates of Insurance and Additional Insureds" course materials (2019)
CG 20 10 12 19 covers the scheduled party for injury or damage caused, in whole or in part, by your acts or omissions or those acting on your behalf "in the performance of your ongoing operations," and does not apply to injury or damage occurring after all work on the project is completed or after your work has been put to its intended use.
ISO endorsements reproduced in Risk & Insurance Education Alliance, "Certificates of Insurance and Additional Insureds" course materials (2019)
From the 04 13 editions, coverage for the additional insured is limited to what the law permits and to the coverage and limits the written contract requires.
ISO endorsements reproduced in Risk & Insurance Education Alliance, "Certificates of Insurance and Additional Insureds" course materials (2019)

What this means for you

Ask before you sign, in writing. Most general contractors accept the current pair once asked. Get the acceptance in an email or a contract change, because the clause as written is the one you will be held to.
"Or equivalent" is your opening. Many contracts say "CG 20 10 11 85 or equivalent". The pair of current forms is the normal answer to that phrase.
The difference is real. Later editions cover the additional insured only where you caused the loss in whole or in part, and no more broadly than the contract requires. A general contractor reading the 1985 form expects more than a current form gives.

Go deeper on any of these

Need this handled?

Reading about it and having it handled are different jobs, and the second one is ours. We place the accounts other brokers decline — claims history, a cancellation, an unusual operation, a business nobody wants to underwrite twice — and we will tell you when the policy you already have is the right one. Tell us the situation and a licensed human replies the same business day.