The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on Tuesday took another big step toward cleaning up its Trainer Provider Registry as the agency looks to stamp out "CDL mills" with the removal of about 3,800 more training providers.
On Dec. 1, FMCSA announced the removal of nearly 3,000 commercial driver’s license (CDL) training providers from its Training Provider Registry (TPR). At the time, Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the training providers were removed "for failing to equip trainees with the Trump Administration’s standards of readiness."
Another 4,500 training providers were placed on notice due to potential noncompliance, DOT added.
Overdrive has learned that the 3,800 providers recently removed came from the batch of 4,500 served notice in December.
FMCSA began conducting in-person audits of another 1,500 schools Dec. 15, and any school that failed the audit would have been given 30 days to get into compliance. As such, any removals resulting from those audits wouldn't have processed yet.
[Related: Training provider attrition part of FMCSA purge]
When FMCSA first started mass removals from the TPR, Overdrive talked to a small fleet owner who got a notice of removal. That was Jason Cowan of Silver Creek Transportation of Henderson, Kentucky, a tanker and flatbed carrier and 2021 Overdrive Small Fleet Champ. Cowan had done some paperwork to get on the registry, but never followed through to actually train drivers under the Entry Level Driver Training standards for pre-CDL instruction.
As such, Cowan let the paperwork lapse.
Further reporting found dozens of the entities put on notice similarly hadn't ever taught CDL courses, or hadn't in years.
Trade associations representing both public and private CDL schools have long called on FMCSA to clean up the TPR and purge it of "unscrupulous" actors, but any active school would likely have responded to FMCSA's notices.
Otherwise, FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs has spoken loudly about what he sees as the root of the problem with substandard training/"CDL mills," electronic logging device cheats, and even the agency's National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners: Self-certification.
[Related: FMCSA pins 'CDL mills' problem on self-certification: Are owner-ops to blame?]
All of these service providers have typically filed minimal paperwork to self-certify they meet federal regs. Barrs seeks to end that during his time at FMCSA.
FMCSA will "work toward a regulatory process" to do away with "anything that has to do with self-certification at FMCSA," Barrs said in December.
