PSP and the FMCSA
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised; however, I am disappointed in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in its lackadaisical handling of the Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP.) I received a message from a driver complaining a carrier pulled his PSP report without his consent and denied him employment. I called the number listed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration 877-642-9499 for PSP questions, I sent an email to [email protected] as well. I asked Sam with Pilot Technologies whether or not carriers had to do a third-party email verification similar to the D & A Clearinghouse? With the D & A Clearinghouse I had to electronically approve the carrier seeing my D & A Clearinghouse information. Apparently the PSP website doesn't have the same Personal Identifiable Information (PII) safety features. I asked Sam if a driver's PSP report would reflect the data pulls against his/her/they's PSP? The response was "No."
PSP was ran by NIC Federal; however, now it's ran by Pilot Technologies.
Prepared by: NIC Federal, LLC (NICF), a subsidiary of Tyler Technologies Inc. Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of NICF. Without NICF’s express written permission, no part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or information storage/retrieval systems, for any purpose other than intended use.
I struggle with NIC Federal's disclaimer. They were paid by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to develop the program so similar to SMS/CSA data the information belongs to the public. The document in the pdf is identified as PSP Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ; therefore, NIC Federal doesn't own the data, the public does.
I then called the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Help Desk at 800-832-5660 to identify who ran the PSP within the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration . The wait time was 171 minutes so I requested a callback. FYI, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is ill equipped to handle regulatory questions if you're sans a DOT number; however, it's possible to get a callback if you're persistent and hit the correct "numbers" to speak to a real person. I just got off the phone with Alisha, she's didn't know her title; however, she's not a Motor Carrier Safety Specialist. So we'll call her a Customer Service Representative (CSR.) The CSR has zero information on who within the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is responsible for the PSP. She offered the number on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration 's website "Contact Us."
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I will do a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to identify who is responsible for the PSP oversight.
My issue is the PSP is run by a third-party contractor with few tools to prevent carriers from pulling PSP reports arbitrarily. The PSP site has numerous warnings of the consequences of pulling reports inappropriately; however, it appears the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration doesn't have tools to identify fraudulent use of its system. Drivers should be able to pull their PSP report with a list of companies that made inquiries and PSP should require an electronic signature for carriers to access a driver's PSP report. Right now it seems a FOIA request via the U.S. Department of Transportation FOIA Officer at [email protected] is the only way to get a report of who pulls a driver's PSP. The FOIA Office has about a six-month backlog so it will be a while before you receive your FOIA response.
I complained to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration about 2017 that carriers were pulling annual PSP reports on drivers in violation of the funding approved for PSP to function. The PRE-EMPLOYMENT SCREENING PROGRAM report can only be pulled by carriers for PRE-EMPLOYMENT purposes.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration must have tools so the drivers can see who and when their reports were pulled. Without these tools to allow the drivers to pull a report of who and when a report was pulled allows carriers and who knows who else to pull a driver's PSP report unbeknownst to the driver.
Sorry for the rant, Happy Thursday! As always.. Be safe.