Who Will Get Audited? What is an “Intervention?”
FMCSA has more than 700,000 active motor carriers registered nationwide but only employs a few hundred investigators. It cannot send an auditor to every one of these fleets, not even close. So, the agency must prioritize the fleets most deserving of their attention. These fleets are assigned an “intervention” that could take one of several forms such as:
- A simple warning letter advising them that the agency has noticed a pattern of violations cited during roadside inspections;
- An off-site (e.g., remote) investigation in which the fleet must furnish records electronically or by mail for the agency to review;
- An on-site focused investigation in which a safety investigator looks only at an area of specific concern (e.g., maintenance records)
- An onsite comprehensive review of all areas to assess the fleet’s overall safety and compliance controls.
There are several “triggers” that will cause a carrier to be audited. For instance, a carrier might be selected if it is involved in a significant crash resulting in multiple fatalities or is the subject of a complaint that was found to have merit (e.g., an employee reports major safety lapses). Also, all new trucking companies (i.e., new entrants) are subject to compliance reviews.
However, most fleets are selected for intervention based on their record of crashes reported by state and local enforcement agencies and violations noted during roadside inspections. FMCSA runs every carrier’s data through an automated scoring system every month to assess their performance. Then, carriers with patterns of crashes or violations meeting certain thresholds are assigned to risk categories. The system that assigns fleets to these categories has a name most fleets never hear: the Activity Center for Enforcement, or ACE.
The 5 Risk Tiers That Determine Which Fleets FMCSA Audits First
ACE takes each carrier’s safety scores and violation history and sorts every carrier into one of five risk categories, from a routine “Monitor” status up to “High-Risk.” Where your fleet lands determines whether you get a simple warning letter, a request for records, or a visit from a safety investigator. Here is how the scoring system works, in plain English, and what you can do about it before FMCSA ever calls.
How FMCSA Scores Every Carrier: SMS and the Seven BASICs
Every month, FMCSA’s Compliance Safety Accountability Safety Measurement System, or SMS, scores every active carrier with sufficient data using roadside inspection results and crashes from the past 24 months. It sorts that data into seven safety categories called BASICs, short for Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories: Unsafe Driving, Hours-of-Service Compliance, Crash Indicator, Driver Fitness, Controlled Substances and Alcohol, Vehicle Maintenance, and Hazardous Materials Compliance.
Fleets are assigned percentile rankings (i.e., scores) in each category. These rankings reflect each fleet’s performance compared to others carriers of similar size and operations. Fleets with worse relative performance are assigned higher percentile rankings relative to their peers. If you cross the predefined “enforcement thresholds” in enough categories, FMCSA will flag your fleet for a closer look. For most general freight carriers, the threshold sits at the 65th percentile for the Unsafe Driving, HOS Compliance, and Crash Indicator categories and the 80th percentile for Driver Fitness, Controlled Substances and Alcohol, and Vehicle Maintenance categories. A chart showing these thresholds is included as an appendix to this document. Passenger carriers and hazardous materials carriers are held to lower, stricter thresholds, since the stakes of a violation are higher for them. For a more complete explanation of the CSA Safety Measurement system, click here.
The Tool That Turns Scores into a Worklist: ACE and the Five Risk Tiers
High scores alone do not usually trigger an audit. Every month, FMCSA managers use ACE to sort flagged carriers into five categories and decide what to do about each one. The following is an explanation of these categories and the criteria for being placed in one of them. An easy-to-read matrix of the categories and criteria is included as an appendix to this document. (Can we add a link to take the reader there?)
Important: The discussion below is focused on how FMCSA prioritizes most general freight carriers. There are variations to these steps and different criteria for passenger carriers, those hauling hazardous materials in placarded quantities, and new motor carriers (i.e., new entrants). Carriers in these categories should review FMCSA’s Electronic Field Operational Training Manual (EFOTM) for additional details on the criteria and steps that apply to them. It is available at this link. Consolidated Electronic Field Operational Training Manual (eFOTM) version.10.01.pdf
Category 1 – “High Risk”
Carriers categorized as “High-Risk” present the highest priority for enforcement intervention. A carrier lands here by scoring at or above the 90th percentile in two or more of the categories which, for the sake of this document, we will call the “key” BASICs (Unsafe Driving, Crash Indicator, HOS Compliance, or Vehicle Maintenance) for two consecutive months. All High-Risk carriers are assigned an on-site investigation that FMCSA aims to complete within 90 days.
Category 2 – “Moderate Risk”
Carriers categorized as “Moderate-Risk” are those that are at or above the enforcement thresholds in two or more of the “key” categories, do not meet the “High Risk” criteria AND have had no intervention in the last 12 months or a warning letter in the past 6 months.
FMCSA further prioritizes carriers within this group. For instance, those that are above the thresholds in three or more of the key BASICs rank higher than those who are cross the line in only two categories. FMCSA also has some discretion here and doesn’t simply work through these lists in alphabetical order. Investigators use a trending tool that shows whether a carrier’s scores are improving or getting worse.
Category 3 – “Risk”
Carriers placed in the “Risk” category are those that are at or above the enforcement thresholds in any of the BASICs – or – have unresolved serious violations1 identified during a previous audit AND have had no intervention in the last 12 months or a warning letter in the past 6 months. Carriers assigned to this group are further prioritized. Carriers that are above the threshold in one of the “key” categories carry the highest priority for review. Those above the threshold in the other categories are ranked second. Carriers that are not above the thresholds but have unresolved serious violations identified during a prior review are ranked third.
Category 4 – Warning Letter
Carriers that are over the enforcement threshold in at least one BASIC but do not meet the criteria for the “High, Moderate or Risk” categories, and have had no intervention or warning letter in the prior 18 months will generally receive a simple warning letter rather than a visit from an investigator. It is exactly what it sounds like: a heads-up, mailed automatically, that requires no response but alerts you to where you stand.
Category 5 – “Monitor”
The “Monitor” category is comprised of carriers that have scores above BASIC threshold but have had a recent investigation, received a warning letter, and new fleets (i.e., new entrants) that are more closely tracked than veteran fleets. FMCSA checks this list for carriers whose risk is trending poorly, especially after a recent on-site intervention.
Other Reasons a Carrier Might Get Selected for An Audit
Many years ago, Congress mandated FMCSA to review the performance of all High-Risk carriers. However, the prioritization of other carriers – choosing which one will get an intervention and of what type – is done by a manager in each FMCSA Division (i.e., State) office. Though the manager will primarily rely on the five risk categories, there are other reasons why they may select a carrier for review.
As discussed above, a carrier might be selected if it is involved in a significant crash – one that results in multiple fatalities and injuries – or is the subject of increased public interest (e.g., also subject to an NTSB investigation). Fleets may also be subject to intervention if the Division office receives a complaint about the fleet alleging safety violations, perhaps from a current or former employee. Before initiating a review in these cases, the Division staff will first determine if the compliant likely has merit. Also, all new trucking companies (i.e., new entrants) are subject to compliance reviews. Last, motorcoach operators are subject to reviews at least every three years, regardless of their safety performance.
What Actually Happens Next: Not Every Flagged Carrier Gets a Visit
Being assigned to one of these categories does not necessarily mean you should expect an investigator to walk through your door at any moment. FMCSA has several tools short of a full on-site investigation that they use to address substandard performance. For instance, they can choose to issue a “Direct Notice of Violation” to a fleet – by mail – to address a narrow, easily verified issue, like a serious violation identified during a recent roadside inspection. They might also ask to review records and supporting documents remotely as part of an “Off-Site Investigation.” Of note – any carrier who’s prioritized is based on vehicle violations (i.e. a high Vehicle Maintenance BASIC score) will be scheduled for an on-site investigation rather than a remote review.
Full on-site investigations come in two forms. An Onsite Focused Investigation examines only the specific category behind the reason for being prioritized. For instance, if a fleet was flagged for a pattern of hours-of-service violations identified during roadside inspections, an on-site investigation might be limited to a review of drivers’ logs.
In contrast, an Onsite Comprehensive Investigation, which reviews compliance in all areas (e.g., vehicle maintenance, driver qualification), is generally reserved for carriers that have demonstrated broad safety problems across multiple categories.
Control Where You Land on the Prioritization List
FMCSA reruns the data and assigns carriers to each risk category monthly. So, even if your fleet is assigned to one of the categories today, there is an opportunity to change that next month or soon thereafter. Here’s some suggestions:
- Check your own numbers before FMCSA does. FMCSA’s CSA Safety Measurement System includes both public data accessible on the internet here: Safety Measurement System – and private data a fleet can access by registering for a private portal account at this link: FMCSA Registration. Any fleet can look up its own BASIC percentiles/scores and recent inspection history for free, identify weaknesses, and employ measures to improve their scores.
- Dispute bad data through DataQs. Inspections sometimes get attributed to the wrong carrier, are errantly cited to begin with, or contain errors that inflate a carrier’s scores unfairly. FMCSA’s DataQs system allows carriers to formally challenge these records. Click here for details DataQs or here Registering for DataQs What You Need to Know
- Fix the cause, not just the citation. The presence or absence of single violation identified during a roadside inspection is unlikely to affect your scores and ranking. However, a pattern of violation across multiple inspections can do so. If a BASIC is trending toward its threshold, address the underlying issue across your whole fleet, not just the one vehicle or driver that got stopped.
- Keep records current. Driver Fitness violations, like allowing a driver to operate with an expired license or medical certificate, are so easily documented and common enough that FMCSA can issue a Notice of Violation for them directly, with no investigation required. Hence, paying attention to simple things – like proactively managing driver qualification files – can help close off one of the easiest paths being on the following month’s prioritization list.
This overview is based on FMCSA’s Consolidated Electronic Field Operational Training Manual, the internal manual FMCSA staff use to prioritize and assign compliance investigations. It is provided for general information and is not legal advice.