After 17Years, FedsMay Consolidate Systems
FMCSA’s Unified Registration System and Motor Carrier Management Information System no longer cluttered
By steve BRawNeR Contributing Writer
Tey say that good things come to those
who wait. Time will tell if that applies to the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration’s Unified Registration System. Te URS represents the consolidation of
three computer systems and databases – one dealing with carrier operating authority that includes information about the carrier and what kind of business it expects to do; one proving the carrier has insurance; and one proving the carrier has an agent for service of process in every state where it does business. Tat position serves as a representative readily available to collect legal papers. Te new computer system has been
undergoing a rulemaking process that so far has lasted 17 years. FMCSA is hoping the system will go online around November 2015, but there is some doubt as to whether the
12
agency will be able to complete it by that time. As Bob Pitcher, vice president of state laws for the American Trucking Associations, pointed out, the federal government usually falls behind schedule when implementing big new computer systems, and there have been other challenges. “Every time there’s a highway
reauthorizaton bill, Congress has some more things for FMCSA to do, and so what with one thing and another, it took them 17 years to write the rule that allows them to do this consolidation of their systems,” he said. Te changes are helping FMCSA clean up
the Motor Carrier Management Information System, or MCMIS, which Pitcher said is cluttered with the remains of carriers that no longer exist because it’s generally up to the carriers to update the information. Te URS system will spell the end of the FMCSA’s easy-to-use MCS-150 form used
by carriers to apply for operating authority. Te one-page form, which can be completed online or on paper, contains about two pages of instructions. “It asks who you are and what kind of a
business you’re going to be in, and where can they reach you,” Pitcher said. “It doesn’t really ask for a whole lot more than that. It’s very basic. A government form is a government form, but this one’s really a pretty streamlined, good form.” Te replacement MCSA-1 form will be
online only and, unfortunately, much longer. A proposed form on which the ATA commented about seven years ago was about 20 pages long with about 30 pages of instruction, Pitcher remembers. At the time, ATA said the form was too long and unmanageable. Te most recent draft seen by the ATA was significantly longer, though it is being designed so that carriers will see the questions they need to see
NEBRASKA TRUCKER — ISSUE 1, 2014 —
www.nebtrucking.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28