Motor Carrier Safety: More Assessment and Transparency Could Enhance Benefits of New Oversight Program

In 2011, GAO reported that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) had mixed success managing implementation of Compliance, Safety Accountability (CSA) program oversight activities thus far. FMCSA performed well in conducting outreach to carriers and responding to stakeholder concerns, but experienced difficulties in realigning its workforce for CSA and adapting staff to CSA's new safety paradigm. FMCSA had not provided comprehensive information to Congress and the public on the risks associated with either the delayed carrier intervention activities or operational and management issues that arose during implementation and its plans to mitigate these risks. Although FMCSA officials indicated they periodically briefed congressional staff of their progress in developing and implementing CSA, FMCSA had not developed any type of comprehensive document that specifically outlines its status, implementation delays, and other issues that needed to be addressed, or identified the risks associated with these problems and strategies to mitigate them. Risk identification and management are essential in the case of CSA, which FMCSA developed with the goal of significantly improving motor carrier safety. Regularly reporting information on the steps FMCSA needed to complete in order to implement CSA--including a timetable--as well as the risks and mitigation strategies associated with not completing each step or addressing each issue, would put FMCSA in a better position to respond to problems when they occur and thus better ensure that FMCSA could complete CSA's implementation as planned. This would also provide Congress and other stakeholders with important information as to FMCSA's status in implementing CSA and the associated risks, which would help Congress make decisions about the program. Therefore, we recommended that FMCSA regularly report to Congress on CSA's status; the problems FMCSA has encountered during the implementation of CSA and the risks they pose to full implementation of CSA; its strategy to mitigate these risks; and a timetable for fully implementing CSA and reporting the progress made in developing and implementing CSA performance measures. Since GAO's report was issued, FMCSA has testified on three occasions, in July 2012, September 2012, and March 2013, and provided written responses to questions for the record after one of these hearings. FMCSA's testimonies summarized its status in implementing CSA and addressed problems identified in th course of implementing CSA and the risks associated with those problems, steps FMCSA plans to take to address the problems, and timeframes for completing those steps. FMCSA also briefed the Senate and House Appropriations committees in April and May 2013 on its progress in developing CSA. These briefings identified actions FMCSA expected to take in fiscal year 2014. FMCSA has also responded in writing to concerns members of Congress raised about CSA. These responses also provided information on FMCSA's progress in implementing CSA, as well as its plans and milestones for addressing concerns that could affect implementation. Finally, according to an FMCSA official, FMCSA met with congressional staff 13 times from August 2012 through July 2013 to discuss its progress in implementing CSA. As a result, Congress has more information to make decisions about funding or authorizations for the program and assurance that CSA is being successfully implemented