[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 152 (Monday, August 9, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Page 47883]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-19593]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
Elimination of USDOT Number Registrant-Only Classification
AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of procedural changes to the Performance and
Registration Information Systems Management Program.
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SUMMARY: FMCSA announces elimination of the ``registrant-only'' USDOT
number as part of the Performance and Registration Information Systems
Management (PRISM) program. FMCSA developed the concept of a
``registrant-only'' USDOT number to identify registered owners of
commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) that are not motor carriers, but lease
their CMVs to entities that are motor carriers. FMCSA has concluded
that registrant-only USDOT numbers are being used differently from what
the Agency intended and thus the practice of issuing registrant-only
numbers to entities that are not motor carriers is having an adverse
affect on the Agency's ability to track motor carriers' safety
violations. As a result, FMCSA made the decision to eliminate the PRISM
procedure that requires non-motor carrier registrants to obtain USDOT
numbers, and will maintain all existing numbers as dormant registrant-
only USDOT numbers.
DATES: The effective date of the change is September 1, 2011.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom Lawler, Department of
Transportation, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 1200 New
Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590. (202) 366-3866 (telephone),
202-366-3375 (fax), [email protected] (e-mail).
Background
PRISM was created by Section 4003 of the Intermodal Surface
Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA), Public Law 102-240 (105
Stat.1914, 2144, Dec. 18, 1991) as a demonstration project. The goal of
the demonstration project was to explore the potential benefits of
using State commercial vehicle registration sanctions as an incentive
to improve motor carrier safety [49 U.S.C. 31106(b)]. In 1998, Congress
authorized additional funding through Section 4004 of the
Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), Public Law
105-178 (112 Stat. 107, 398, June 9, 1998) to implement the PRISM
program nationwide.
In 1999, FMCSA created the ``registrant-only'' USDOT number
classification to identify registered owners of CMVs that are not motor
carriers but lease their CMVs to entities that are motor carriers.
Because the registrant is not a motor carrier, the registrant-only
USDOT number is used to track ownership of CMVs in the Motor Carrier
Management Information System (MCMIS). A registrant-only USDOT number
does not authorize a non-motor carrier to operate in interstate
commerce, and it should not have any safety events assigned to it.
However, in numerous cases, law enforcement personnel have been
presented a registrant-only number during inspections and crash
investigations. As a result, data that should be assigned to the record
of the motor carrier operating the CMV has been erroneously assigned to
the registrant-only DOT number. The Agency conducted an analysis in
2009 and found that over 35,500 (18%) of the more than 200,000
registrant-only records in MCMIS contained crash and inspection
activity that should have been recorded on the lessee's motor carrier
record.
Placement of this information on a registrant-only record adversely
affects the accuracy of FMCSA's safety monitoring system. Motor
carriers that improperly use registrant-only numbers can evade FMCSA
oversight, including compliance reviews and new entrant program audits.
In addition, if safety events are not properly attributed to the motor
carriers operating CMVs, FMCSA cannot factor those events into the
motor carriers' safety ratings.
Action To Be Taken
On September 1, 2011, FMCSA will eliminate the practice of allowing
non-motor carrier registrants to obtain registrant-only USDOT numbers.
Approximately 40 of the State jurisdictions that are PRISM members will
be affected by this change. Members will need to modify their forms,
instruction manuals, computer systems' validation and safety edits,
renewal application and MCS-150 edits and procedures. FMCSA will be
working with members to make the necessary changes. The goal is for
members to make these changes by August 31, 2011.
While members are modifying their systems, the FMCSA Division
Offices will be researching the events attributed to the registrant-
only records and reassigning the events to the proper motor carrier
record on MCMIS, or, if appropriate, changing the non-motor carrier to
motor carrier status. The registrant-only USDOT numbers will remain on
MCMIS as dormant numbers unless a non-motor carrier changes its status
to motor carrier. FMCSA's goal is to have all of the records corrected
by December 31, 2011.
Issued on: July 30, 2010.
Anne S. Ferro,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2010-19593 Filed 8-6-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-EX-P