It also introduces new coverages, including computer coverage, business income from dependent properties coverage, and fire extinguisher system recharge expense.

The offering has new optional endorsements, including coverage for food contamination, water backup and sump overflow, functional building and personal property valuation, liquor liability, employee benefits liability, and several coverage and exclusion options for pollution liability.

"The new BOP is a self-contained program, enabling insurers to reduce policywriting expenses with a simplified rating and policy-issuance system," according to Domenick J. Yezzi, Jr., ISO's vice president for specialty commercial lines. "The manual also provides an enhanced businessowners classification table and expands eligibility rules to include motels, self-storage facilities, and combined restaurant, convenience food and gasoline risks."

A cross-referencing section has been added to make it easy for insurers to locate information within the manual, he noted.

The new BOP provides a simplified policy form to replace the three existing forms necessary to write coverage. The new policy form includes many features of the old forms and adds a new "named peril" endorsement that modifies the policy to cover only the causes of loss in the current standard property form, ISO said.

ISO added that the program simplifies the existing rating system with a new factor-based methodology that streamlines insurers' workflow.

Insurers can choose to receive the new BOP loss costs and rating factors through "ISO IntegRater." With BOP advisory loss costs and rating factors on "ISO IntegRater," insurers can incorporate ISO information into their rating and policy-issuance systems faster, more accurately, and more easily than through conventional means, ISO said.

The company said the addition of BOP means that "ISO IntegRater" now delivers information on ISO's general liability, commercial property and commercial package policy lines.

Insurers, ISO said, can also choose a turnkey solution with AscendantOne Inc.'s Web-based "RateFocus" and "PolicyFocus" quoting and policy-issuance applications, powered by ISO.

ISO noted that it recently took an equity position in AscendantOne, a Nashua, N.H.-based technology and services company that develops insurance applications.

Following BOP, AscendantOne's "RateFocus" and "PolicyFocus" solutions will be gradually rolled out for the rest of ISO's lines of business, the company said.