GAO Urges More Oversight of Third-Party CDL Testers
Federal regulators have been strongly urged to provide better oversight of third-party contractors used by a majority of states to administer skills tests to truckers applying for commercial driver licenses, according to a new government report.
The Government Accountability Office recommended that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration continue to make changes to clarify its policy on oversight of states’ CDL programs and “improve or obtain a mechanism to track oversight activities.”
GAO said the mission of FMCSA includes ensuring that drivers have the knowledge and skills required to safely drive commercial vehicles.
“However, FMCSA and states face competing priorities in their efforts to ensure that CDL programs, including skills testers, supply businesses with the safe drivers they need to operate,” the GAO report said. “Weaknesses in FMCSA current oversight of CDL skills testing prevents the agency from providing reasonable assurance that state CDL programs comply with applicable federal regulations.”
In a written response, FMCSA agreed with the GAO recommendations, but defended its “robust” CDL program that includes requirements for states to conduct covert and overt monitoring.
“In many cases, FMCSA is successful in getting the states to complete more than one annual program review and skills test review every 12 months,” the agency said.
The report noted that with the industry facing a driver shortage, there will be an even greater need for close oversight of the CDL approval process.
In recent months, FMCSA has been making efforts to tighten its oversight, attempting to balance fraud risk with the states’ need to mitigate testing delays by using third-party testers, according to GAO.
Kevin Lewis, director of driver programs for the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, told Transport Topics that the use of third-party CDL skills test examiners has been a common practice for more than two decades.
“Other than the person who pays you, there really isn’t any difference in the required oversight of a state examiner or a third-party examiner,” Lewis said. “They all have to be giving the test the same way, and somebody has to be observing them making sure that everything’s OK.”
Lewis added, “There’s always going to be a fraud risk. But you have a fraud risk with state employees, too.”
Sean Garney, manager of safety policy for American Trucking Associations, said ATA believes third-party testers offer a solution to reducing wait times with a minimum of fraud risk.
“The report did indicate that some states that are concerned with the fraud risk will allow motor carriers to conduct their third-party testing with the idea that they have a more intrinsic need to produce safe drivers,” Garney said. “But clearly the report said the agency needs to improve its oversight of CDL testing.”
A majority of states — 39 of them — use third-party testers as training schools, carriers and other professionals to administer CDL skills tests, the report said. Many also operate state testing sites.
States told GAO they use third-party testing agencies to cut costs, reduce wait times and increase test availability.
The other 11 states and the District of Columbia said they chose not to use third parties because they perceived a greater fraud risk.
Licensing agency officials in Texas said they believe it would be too costly to conduct required background checks and oversight of third-party examiners relative to any potential benefits.
Stakeholders have raised concerns about excessive delays in applicants getting appointments to take CDL skills tests and agree that increasing the use of third-party testers may provide a solution.
Yet, the Department of Transportation’s Inspector General concluded that preventing CDL fraud — which the IG found in 2012 was especially at risk with third-party test administration — was a top challenge for the department and remains an area of interest.
GAO said that in 2013, FMCSA established a policy for overseeing states’ compliance with its CDL regulations, including requirements for FMCSA field office personnel to conduct periodic reviews, but noted that the policy and its implementation has several weaknesses.
Most states reported that driving skills test appointments were typically available within two weeks at state sites, but drivers only had to wait for test appointments one week at third-party sites.
Some industry stakeholders that GAO interviewed raised concerns that applicants in some states are forced to wait up to seven weeks to take their skills test.
“If there is a way that FMCSA can improve oversight, that’s obviously paramount,” said Don Lefeve, president of the Commercial Vehicle Training Association.
But Lefeve said the GAO report also confirms that in states that use third-party testing there are fewer test and retest scheduling delays that keep truck drivers from quickly entering the workforce.
“At the end of the day, the report really confirms that these delays are real, and we need to do something about it,” Lefeve said.
