What is an “Absolute Measure” in the new CSA BASIC Status?
By Dennis McGee – Dennis McGee and Associates
An explanation of the term “Absolute Measure” means in the new BASiC status;
The numbers circled in red are the percentiles which we were used to seeing. These percentages will no longer be seen to the public
The number circled in Yellow are the absolute measure numbers. These are the numbers the public will see.
The Yellow triangle indicated that the motor carrier was in an Alert Status in that BASIC. The Yellow triangle will no longer be seen to the public.
The motor carrier will have access to this information by using their assigned “pin” and logging into their FMCSA data.
The absolute measures were always posted, but not much attention was paid to them by the public. The absolute measure ONLY relates to each individual motor carrier, and not comparing the motor carrier with other motor carriers in their “group”.
Trucking company “A” may have an absolute measure of 1.09 and trucking company “B” may have the same absolute measure of 1.09. Depending upon each of the motor carrier’s inspection history, the absolute measure of 1.09 may not mean the same for “A” & “B”.
Therefore, the absolute measure viewing by the public does not inform the public of the motor carrier’s Alert Status or percentages relating to other motor carriers in its group. This meets the FAST Act mandate.
The Vehicle Technology Explosion
Originally published in Public Works Magazine
Finding the right telematics partner is like hiring contractors with their own tools and equipment. Here’s how to establish a mutually beneficial relationship.
By Joel Beal
Thirty years ago, specifying onboard vehicle technology was easy. There were four suppliers, dispatch and routing systems were the same, and only a handful of commercial applications existed. You picked the one that best fit your needs and made it work.
With the explosion in technology and suppliers since then, the job’s much harder. Today, choosing the right product requires significant time and energy. If your agency can’t afford to expend the resources necessary to learn about how to pilot a system, stop reading right now.
If it can, however, you can take the guesswork out of procurement with the following process. You may have to tweak it a bit for your particular situation, but you’ll avoid wasting taxpayer money.
Step 1: What do you need today?
Your job is to make the most logical choice given your agency’s current needs, future plans, and budget. Create a written plan with specific steps to map your path to successful purchase and implementation.
f you’re starting from scratch, consider things like:
- What worries you? Are you getting complaints from internal customers, the public, elected officials?
- Are vehicles and operators dispatched and routed, ideally, every day?
- Are there areas of the operation where you no longer have insight?
- If your fleet includes commercial motor vehicles (CMV), which Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Compliance, Safety, and Accountability (CSA) program scores are particularly high?
- Are some internal customers more expensive to service than others, but you don’t know why?
- What are operators doing wrong? What are they doing right that they’re not being rewarded for?
- If you already have vehicle-tracking technology, ask the same questions, plus:
- Which expectations did it meet?
- Which ones didn’t it meet, and why?
- Which areas of operations did it improve?
- What areas didn’t it improve, and why?
Then determine the needs to which you can attach a return on investment. For example, if you’re a large DOT with multiple maintenance yards, you may suspect that one or two yards have too many vehicles and/or particular equipment. Tracking usage across the agency will help you identify and sell excess equipment.
Step 2: What do you need five years from now?
You can’t afford everything right now, so create a wish list for a second implementation phase.
Let’s say you want a tracking system and automated dispatch. Choose the one for which you have the greatest need now and put the other on a list to roll out next year.
If you make the right purchase for your initial needs, you’ll be able to expand capability fairly easily via an additional service, software module, or hardware peripheral.
Step 3: Writing the request for proposal
Your job is to find the company that meets most of your important requirements and employs people you trust at a price you can justify.
The request for proposal (RFP) is the road map for getting there. You’re introducing yourself to potential partners; how they respond indicates how well they listen — a key to any successful long-term relationship.
You now know current and future needs. Write them down as simply and straightforward as possible in a grid format that enables the respondent to answer:
Yes, No, In the Future, and With Conditions.
Provide enough detail to guide potential suppliers but not so much that you stifle creativity.
The RFP should also include:
- A description of your agency and fleet demographics
- Expected implementation date
- How to submit questions
- How to respond (mail, website, etc.) and the deadline
- Request three references
- Ask for an executive summary
- Request a quote that captures upfront and ongoing costs in terms of both hardware and software.
Step 4: Separate the wheat from the chaff
With your RFP in place, it’s time to engage possible suppliers. Start with a long list of those that may possibly meet your needs.
Ask them to explain how they’ll meet each current and future requirement. Using your grid, grade their responses on a scale of one (can’t do it) to 10 (this is exactly what we want).
Remove companies that can’t meet basic requirements. Rank the rest numerically based on their cumulative response.
Call in this short list of companies for an interview. Do they understand your agency? Are they empathetic to its mission and needs? How will they support your system? What’s their implementation and training plan?
Listening carefully to the answers will tell you how compatible your potential partner may or may not be.
Your short list of suppliers may be shorter after the interviews. Evaluate and verify their answers by asking references the same questions you asked during the RFP process.
You may decide it’s best to do an onsite evaluation by installing and using the technology for a specific period of time. You’ll ask the same questions as during the RFP process and when talking to other users, but you’ll see the answers. You’ll evaluate ease of installation, ease of use, applicability to your operation, competence of training, and reliability of support.
Step 5: The weakest link in the chain
In my experience, technology doesn’t fail because a fleet chose the wrong solution. It fails due to inadequate implementation, which must be planned, measured, and managed.
By now, it should be obvious who your internal technology champion is. Put him (or her) in charge of implementation. Because they’ll get resistance from coworkers, give them the authority and time to get the job done right.
Using the RFP as a guideline, develop a schedule with important milestones and deadlines. Assign who will perform each task. Define their role and give it to them in writing.
Meet weekly, looking back on accomplishments and looking forward to the week ahead. Establish a checklist to audit system performance going forward/annually.
Joel Beal is managing partner for JBA Telematics in Arlington, Texas. Please visit www.jbatelematics.com. E-mail joelbeal@jbatelematics.com.
This article is taken from “How to Find, Install, and Use the Right Vehicle Technology for Your Fleet: Your Blueprint to a Successful Telematics Implementation.” Get a free copy of the $195 special report by e-mailing joelbeal@jbatelematics.com.
USPS Contracting Changes
By John Sheehy; President, NSRMCA
Postal suppliers who have been around for a few years know that the changes occurring around the Postal Service has definitely increased the number of service change requests. The stability the industry once enjoyed has been replaced by a much more fluid system. The suppliers and the Contracting offices have all struggled to keep pace with the direction of the USPS.
In any changing climate, adaptation is one of the hardest things to control and perfect. As participants in this process, everyone (suppliers and USPS) has had to relearn how to work together. Many of the processes have changed or have been adjusted. In many instances suppliers were not accustomed nor equipped to handle the multitude of changes being requested. Contracting offices were severely understaffed causing delays in negotiations, renewals and payments. To say the climate has been tense is probably understating the magnitude of the situation.
The association and the leaders of the USPS have challenged each other to work closer together. Decisions have been made to educate each other, understand the goals and challenges that need to be addressed. The environment that has been created over the last few years is a healthy cooperative one. The business partnerships that are developing will serve the industry well moving forward.
A discussion of changes cannot be fully developed unless an understanding for “what” and “how” is addressed. Most of the industry understands the common acronyms used. SCR for example means “Service Change Request”. Most are familiar with this term, but do we understand what it means. An SCR is a process wherein the Contracting Office notifies the supplier that a change in the service is requested. The change might include a schedule change, stop changes, addition or subtraction of work being done, equipment modifications etc. In this situation the contracting office and the supplier are required to come to a mutual agreement for the service and the future payments. (Dave Hendel has written and presented on this topic many times) What is important to understand is that this request has to come from the Contracting Office.
Unfortunately the Contracting Office does not make the changes that the supplier is being asked to do; that comes to them from operations or networks. There is confusion of who needs the changes, who orders them and who is ultimately responsible for changing the contract. This is what has caused the industry many of its heartaches recently.
Getting to the point, as suppliers we need to understand the process. Recently a new acronym was introduced that may help all of us understand how to deal with all the requests and how to insure they are being executed correctly; UCC (Unauthorized Contractual Commitment). There is a distinct difference in an SCR and a UCC and understanding the difference can make all the difference working together with your CO and local offices.
Many of the Suppliers work very closely with the local offices, which in most cases this a great thing and keeps the mail moving effectively. However, if a local office or someone from networks asked you to change the service you provide on your contract and it is not a temporary change (backed up by a 5397 form for exceptional service) then you are most likely in a UCC situation. The contracting office cannot deal with a UCC because in many cases they do not know the UCC exists, and the opportunity for a mutual agreement did not take place. The supplier now is at risk of not being paid for this additional work, and the USPS may not get the financial benefit of reduced work.
So what should the supplier do when this happens? The contracting officer is the only person that can change your contract. Understanding this will greatly improve your chances for a successful mutually agreed future contract and a continued good relationship with your local offices. If a supplier is asked to change the work being done going forward by someone other than their contracting officer, the supplier should inform the requester (in a businesslike respectful manner) “I am happy to provide the service as soon as I get permission from my contracting officer.” Then the supplier should contact the contracting officer preferably by email, noting the contract number in the subject line, outline the change that has been requested, estimate the potential cost differential caused by the change and the timing of the start of the service requested. This will provide you and the contracting officer a written trail of the transaction. The contracting office will respond to your email as soon as possible with a yes or a no. Only after the supplier gets the nod from the CO should they start the service. Once the service is started, the SCR should follow then negotiations for a mutually agreed change should take place. Of course negotiating the change before operations is the best and least risky scenario for both the supplier and USPS.
ELD Mandate -What to Do Now?
By Bob Keller, LoadTrek Software.
Telematics Investment Requires Due Diligence
By Jim Griffin – Chief Technology Officer, Fleet Advantage
Transportation and fleet managers have wrestled for years with the cost versus benefit of incorporating telematics on their trucks. The term telematics derives from the combination of telecommunications and informatics and represents a variety of devices also known as onboard computer systems. Although telematics devices have been around for decades, the percentage of Class 8 tractors outfitted with them ranges between 27% and 40% — percentages that speak volumes about the perceived value of telematics.
Now that the electronic logging device, or ELD, mandate is being placed into law, fleet managers who have yet to incorporate telematics are being forced to make an important initial decision: Do I view the telematics mandate as a “necessary evil” and spend the least amount to meet compliance, or do I go “all in” and realize the value of the data that it provides?
Amid the overload of applications, hardware and services available in the everchanging telematics world, deciding on the range of system functionality and associated costs can be overwhelming. This can be especially true for fleet managers who have not yet immersed themselves in telematics research — and I can say with confidence that a lot of research must precede a decision. Pricing for hardware can range from free to several thousand dollars, while functionality can range from basic GPS tracking to a fully integrated, mobileasset management system. The new mandate will be a key factor in the decision of which system to choose. With options on vendors, applications, features and costs, where do you start?
First, you need to recognize that decision time has come, and you must take action to be compliant. Factors that must enter into this decision equation include hardware pricing of the newly available and enhanced data sets you will need and financing options. Thinking strategically about the data you need to manage your fleet’s performance, your drivers’ behavior and vehicle life cycle options ultimately will pay off in improved fuel economy, lower operating costs and improved driver retention. So a thorough and methodical due diligence approach is recommended.
So now what?
Now that you know that a decision is imminent, what do you do? If you are a fleet manager venturing into the telematics landscape for the first time, you need to understand that this is a journey for your organization, as the data and reporting options available to fleet managers can be as overwhelming as choosing the best service provider. It is an onerous task to simply digest the tidal wave of functionality and data that will be available. So you need to establish and prioritize your needs to understand the telematics value proposition.
Second, you need to choose a provider or partner that is there for the long haul, that has the ability to support your organization and your fleet well into the future. A shortsighted decision to simply meet the ELD mandate without understanding the “actionable data potential” for greatly reducing operating costs is illadvised. Since you must make the investment per the ELD mandate, the incremental costs to acquire systems and services that provide additional data and applications to modernize your fleet are minimal and the return on investment is substantial.
By attempting to minimize your initial step into telematics too much, you will find that, in the long run, you will have lost substantial operational savings and actually increased your costs by not having access to decisionmaking data that can assist in optimizing your fleet’s performance and safety. For example, at Fleet Advantage, we have found that by using the right data to monitor only fuel economy, a tractor’s performance can be increased by 5% to 12% on average and more in some cases. That can be thousands of dollars of savings per year for each tractor.
Is it more than just the technology?
The selection of your telematics product and partner goes beyond the technology. Let’s be clear, these systems are much more complicated than they get credit for. These systems are inherently challenging and, because no two fleets operate the same, there will be additional challenges. Your technology selections need to be determined by answering these important questions:
- Is the technology limited to meeting only my current needs to be compliant with the ELD mandate?
- Does the technology allow for easy access to reliable applications and reports that can provide actionable information for improving my fleet’s operating performance and safety?
- Does the technology provide a growth path to leverage the value of predictive and descriptive diagnostics? Many providers will tell you they are providing it today. However, this is an emerging area that no doubt is in its infancy and will continue to evolve. Don’t get left behind by choosing a limited technology partner.
- Does the provider have the resources, understanding and cultural climate to navigate this journey with your organization and be a true partner?
Although the thought of implementing the new ELD mandate and a telematics solution can appear to be overwhelming, the benefits of doing so will be well worth the investment of cost, time and effort.
Fleet Advantage is a leading innovator in truck fleet business analytics, equipment financing and life cycle cost management. For more information, visit www.FleetAdvantage.net