Authority Industries Data Accuracy and Integrity Policy

The Authority Industries data accuracy and integrity policy governs how trade business listings within the national directory network are collected, verified, maintained, and corrected. This page defines the scope of the policy, the mechanisms used to enforce it, the scenarios in which accuracy standards are applied, and the boundaries that determine when data is accepted, flagged, or removed. Accurate data is foundational to the Authority Industries consumer trust model and directly affects the reliability of contractor information accessed by businesses and consumers across the United States.

Definition and scope

Data accuracy, in the context of the Authority Industries directory network, refers to the verifiable correspondence between a listed trade business's published information and independently confirmable facts. Integrity refers to the consistency, completeness, and non-corruption of that information across the full lifecycle of a listing — from initial submission through periodic review cycles.

The policy applies to all fields within a directory listing, including but not limited to:

• Legal business name and trade name (DBA)
• Physical service address and geographic coverage
• License numbers and licensing jurisdiction
• Trade category classification (e.g., electrical, HVAC, plumbing, roofing)
• Contact information, including phone numbers and email addresses
• Insurance documentation references
• Business status (active, suspended, dissolved)

The scope extends nationally across all 50 US states and reaches every vertical segment covered by the Authority Industries specialty trade segments framework. Listings originating from any submission channel — manual, partner-sourced, or programmatically ingested — fall under identical accuracy standards.

How it works

The integrity pipeline operates in three sequential phases: intake validation, ongoing monitoring, and dispute-triggered review.

Phase 1 — Intake validation begins at the point of submission. Submitted data is cross-referenced against primary source records. License numbers are matched against the relevant state licensing board database for the applicable trade category. Contact data is subjected to format validation and deliverability checks. Business entity names are verified against state Secretary of State corporation records where public API access is available. The Authority Industries vetting standards document specifies the minimum threshold for intake approval: a listing must pass at least 4 of 6 defined validation checkpoints before it is published.

Phase 2 — Ongoing monitoring runs on a structured review cycle, detailed separately in the Authority Industries update and review cycle policy. At defined intervals, automated checks re-query external public records to identify changes in license status, business registration, or address. Any discrepancy between the current listing and the updated external source generates a flag in the moderation queue.

Phase 3 — Dispute-triggered review activates when a third party — whether a consumer, a competing contractor, or a government agency notification — challenges the accuracy of a published field. The dispute mechanism is described in the Authority Industries dispute and removal policy. Upon intake of a dispute, the relevant field is marked "under review" and the listing enters a resolution workflow with a defined decision window.

Common scenarios

Four scenarios most frequently invoke accuracy and integrity procedures:

1. License expiration or lapse — A contractor's state-issued license expires and the licensing board database updates to reflect lapsed status. The monitoring phase detects the discrepancy within the next review interval. The listing is flagged and the business has a defined period to submit renewed license documentation before the listing is suppressed.
2. Address or coverage area change — A trade contractor relocates its principal place of business or modifies its geographic service radius. Without a submitted update, the published coverage area becomes inaccurate. Consumers relying on geographic filtering to find local contractors receive misleading results, which is the primary harm this policy is designed to prevent.
3. Ownership or entity change — A business is sold, restructured, or rebranded. The new ownership may not carry the same insurance, licensing, or trade qualifications as the predecessor entity. A listing that was accurate under the prior owner becomes materially inaccurate after a transfer, requiring re-verification of all credential fields.
4. Erroneous third-party data ingestion — When listing data is sourced from partner feeds rather than direct submission, errors in the source dataset propagate into the directory. Intake validation catches format-level errors; substantive errors (e.g., an incorrect license number that nonetheless passes format checks) may only surface during dispute-triggered review or periodic re-verification.

Decision boundaries

The policy distinguishes between correctable inaccuracies and integrity violations that warrant removal.

Correctable inaccuracies are factual errors that do not indicate deliberate misrepresentation and that can be resolved by submitting updated, verifiable documentation. Examples include an outdated phone number, an expired license that has since been renewed, or an address change not yet reflected in the listing.

Integrity violations involve the submission or retention of data that cannot be reconciled with any legitimate primary source — fabricated license numbers, fictitious business addresses, or misclassified trade categories used to appear in searches outside a contractor's actual scope of licensure. Integrity violations result in immediate suppression pending investigation, with removal as the default outcome absent documentation sufficient to refute the discrepancy.

The distinction between correctable inaccuracy and integrity violation is not based solely on intent. A listing carrying a license number that does not exist in any state licensing database is classified as an integrity violation regardless of how the error originated, because the published information cannot be substantiated. This bright-line rule aligns with the Authority Industries compliance requirements and the standards described in the trade-network listing criteria.

References

• Federal Trade Commission — Business Guidance on Deceptive Claims
• National Association of State Contractors Licensing Agencies (NASCLA)
• U.S. Small Business Administration — Business Licenses and Permits
• National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) — Data Integrity Guidance