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COIDA Compliance for Tenders: The Letter of Good Standing Explained

The Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA) requires every employer to register and contribute to the Compensation Fund. A Letter of Good Standing from the Compensation Fund confirms your contributions are up to date, and it is a mandatory returnable on most tenders involving physical labour — construction, security, cleaning, and manufacturing especially.

Why it's required

A procuring department wants assurance that if a worker on your team is injured performing the contract, they are covered by the Compensation Fund rather than exposing the department to liability. This is why COIDA compliance is treated as a hard gate on labour-intensive tenders even when it isn't the department's primary concern.

Keeping your letter current

The letter is typically valid for 12 months and must be renewed annually through the Department of Employment and Labour's CF Filing system. As with tax compliance, the gap between "we are registered" and "our letter is currently valid" is where tenders are most often lost — a lapsed letter from a business that fully intends to renew it still fails a compliance check on the day a bid is submitted.

Check your own tender qualification