Addressing fraud in the supply chain: Proposed changes for the FMCSA

The Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), the premier organisation for third-party logistics professionals, drafted the below proposed changes for the FMCSA.

1. Authentic the identity of the entity. Verify the business licence with the state they are domiciled in. Place motor carriers out of service who cannot be verified.
    
2. Enforce the Principal Place of Business requirements for registration and shut down licensed entities operating out of P.O. boxes, UPS and FedEx boxes and entities that operate at the same address.
    
3. Do not allow electronic changes to an entity’s record without a pin that must be validated through dual factor authentication.
    
4. Amend the FMCSA registration system to update registration updates in real-time. The current model of 30-days allows scamsters to make changes with no legitimate updates until 30-days later.
    
5. Implement and enforce the provisions of MAP-21 that require a licensed broker or forwarder to have three years of relevant experience or demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the industry to the Secretary.
    
6. Establish an internal Fraud Task Force within the Department of Transportation and the Inspector General’s office.
    
7. Require dispatch services to register with the FMCSA as such and enforce the guidance released by the Agency and the CFR that dispatch services cannot be a bona fide agent of more than one motor carrier.
    
8. Greater coordination and integration between all three different data sets that the Agency utilises (Volpe, MCMIS and DataQs).