Safety Fitness Determination Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) released an advanced draft of the much-anticipated notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) for the Safety Fitness Determination (SFD). The NPRM will be published in the January 21, 2016,edition of the Federal Register. Initial comments will be due to the Agency no later than 60 days of publication.
Executive Summary:
Under this NPRM, the FMCSA is proposing to amend the process by which commercial motor vehicles are given a safety fitness determination (SFD). The Agency seeks to include on-road safety data, inspection reports, and preventable crashes into their quiver available to them to determine a motor carrier’s safety fitness. Additionally, the Agency seeks to clarify a motor carrier’s status by eliminating the three-tier rating system and move to a red light system of “unfit” carriers. Furthermore, the Agency ensures through this proposal that absolute measures are utilized to determine a carrier’s safety fitness, versus the current state of play in the CSA SMS, which ranks motor carriers based on the performances of not only theiroperations, but that of their peers. Several other significant changes are detailed in the link below. Overall the proposal seems to be a positive first step towards the Agency implementing the much-anticipated SFD rulemaking, and eliminating the current traps plaguing the marketplace for 3PLs.
Link to detailed summary on the SFD NPRM
Link to FMCSA's NPRM
