U.S. DOT announces creation of Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP) Formula Working Group

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced the formation of the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP) Formula Working Group. The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act requires the DOT Secretary to establish a working group to analyze the requirements and factors for establishing a new allocation formula for the MCSAP, the flagship state grant program of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).

“The Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program provides critical funds each year to states to support their large truck and bus safety efforts,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “Now that we have expeditiously fulfilled this FAST Act requirement, I look forward to receiving the working group’s recommendations on how we can enhance and streamline this important safety grant program with the ultimate goal of making our nation’s roads safer.”

MCSAP grant funds are essential to maintaining the states’ commercial motor vehicle (CMV) enforcement programs around the country, with grant funds providing critical support for state-conducted compliance investigations, roadside inspections, new entrant audits, and traffic enforcement activities.

The DOT Secretary was required to establish a MCSAP working group within 180 days of enactment of the FAST Act – December 4, 2015 – and the working group must provide its recommendations to the Secretary no later than one year from the date of its establishment. According to the FAST Act, the working group must be composed of representatives from state CMV safety agencies, FMCSA, an organization representing state CMV enforcement agencies, and any other persons that the DOT Secretary considers necessary. State safety agency participation must make up at least 51 percent of the working group, and the group is exempt from the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

“We’re extremely pleased to have such a diverse group of leading commercial motor vehicle safety professionals participating in this significant endeavor,” said FMCSA Acting Administrator Scott Darling. “This is an exciting opportunity to identify ways in which we can improve our grant allocation processes and, in turn, improve safety for the traveling public.”

Secretary Foxx signed approval letters for the following 15 individuals who were selected for the working group:

Public members

Lt. Donald C. Bridge, Jr., Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles, MCSAP Coordinator, Commercial Vehicle Safety Division
Lt. Thomas Fitzgerald, Massachusetts State Patrol, Commanding Officer, Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Section
Ms. Michelle N. Lopez, Colorado State Patrol, MCSAP Grants Administrator
Mr. Alan R. Martin, Ohio Public Utilities Commission, Deputy Director
Lt. Stephen Brent Moore, Georgia Department of Public Safety, Special Operations Coordinator, Motor Carrier Compliance Division
Captain Brian Preston, Arizona Department of Public Safety
Mr. John E. Smoot, Kentucky State Police, MCSAP/Federal Training Coordinator
Colonel Leroy Taylor, South Carolina Department of Public Safety, Deputy Director
Ms. Adrienne Gildea, Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, Deputy Executive Director
Mr. Stephen C. Owings, Road Safe America, President and Co-Founder

FMCSA representatives

Ms. Nancy Baugher, FMCSA, Grants Management Officer
Ms. Caitlin Cullitan, FMCSA, Attorney-Advisor
Mr. Thomas Liberatore, FMCSA, Chief, State Programs Division
Ms. Courtney Stevenson, FMCSA, Senior Policy Advisor, Office of Field Operations
Mr. Dan Meyer, FMCSA, Division Administrator, Illinois Division

FMCSA received 24 applications from the states, one application from an organization representing states, and three applications from other persons. FMCSA empaneled a group of five staff from various offices within the agency to review and rate all submitted application materials for consideration to the formula working group.

The criteria established in the notice and used to evaluate all candidates included: