Federal trucking regulators are in the early days of developing a new online registration process that looks to reduce fraud and improve transparency for the registration of motor carriers, transportation brokers, insurance companies, and other transport users.
If approved by the Office of Management and Budget, the plan would modernize the Unified Registration System (URS), and be renamed “Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Registration System.” With scheduled implementation by early next year, director of FMCSA’s Office of Registration and Safety Information Kenneth Riddle hammers down the impact of fraud within the industry:
“We’ve heard from every corner of the industry how bad fraud is right now in the CMV industry. We’ve heard from those that work in the industry – the carriers, the brokers. We’ve heard from insurance companies, large insurance companies, about some of the fraud that they’ve been experiencing.”
Riddle said the system would include fraud-resistant security features, including improved data quality and real-time data validation, use smart logic and edit checks, and consolidate digital documents used in the current registration system.
Riddle said FMCSA will soon implement fraud-related changes, including:
- Requiring that a PIN request be mailed to an applicant’s address.
- Implementing a login.gov requirement that registration users would need for authentication.
- Requiring a copy of a driver’s license from the individual requesting account changes.
- Contracting with a vendor that can provide identity-proofing services.
The new system would allow Mexican carriers to operate beyond the U.S. municipalities (on the border and commercial zones) including: registrants seeking to process name changes, address changes, reinstatement of operating authority for carriers, freight forwarders and brokers, and registrants that are requesting to voluntarily suspend their safety and/or operating authority registration with FMCSA.
