CVISN Electronic Credentialing
for Commercial Vehicles
in Washington State

A Case Study

Easier Licensing and
Credentials Processing for the
Motor Carrier Industry

September 2004

FHWA-JPO-04-029

EDL# 13980

FMCSA-RT-04-001

[PDF version, 3MB]
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Forward

Dear Reader,

We have scanned the country to bring together the collective wisdom and expertise of transportation professionals implementing Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) projects across the United States. This information will prove helpful as you set out to plan, design, and deploy ITS in your communities.

This document is one in a series of products designed to help you provide ITS solutions that meet your local and regional transportation needs. We have developed a variety of formats to communicate with people at various levels within your organization and among your community stakeholders:

• Benefits Brochures let experienced community leaders explain in their own words how specific ITS technologies have benefited their areas.
• Cross-Cutting Studies examine various ITS approaches that can be used to meet your community's goals.
• Case Studies provide in-depth coverage of specific approaches being taken in communities across the United States.
• Implementation Guides serve as "how to" manuals to assist your project staff in the technical details of implementing ITS.

ITS has matured to the point that you are not alone as you move toward deployment. We have gained experience and are committed to providing our state and local partners with the knowledge they need to lead their communities into the future.

The inside back cover contains details on the documents in this series, as well as sources to obtain additional information. We hope you find these documents useful tools for making important transportation infrastructure decisions.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey F. Paniati Associate Administrator for Operations Acting Program Manager, ITS Joint Program Office Federal Highway Administration

Mary Powers-King Office Director Research and Technology Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Preface

The following case study provides an in-depth view of the deployment of Commercial Vehicle Information Systems and Networks (CVISN) Electronic Credentialing in Washington State. It describes successful practices and lessons learned in operations and management from the point of view of an early-adopting CVISN state. The case study emphasizes qualitative accomplishments and the firsthand accounts of CVISN developers and end users in state government and in the private sector.

Information in this case study was gathered from interviews and observations at the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and the Department of Licensing (WSDOL), as well as a site visit to a participating motor carrier company. The authors appreciate the cooperation and support of WSDOT, WSDOL, the Washington State Patrol (WSP), the Washington Trucking Associations, and their partners in the development of this document.

Contents

• Introduction
• System Origin and Design
• System Operation
• Benefits and Lessons Learned
• Conclusions and Next Steps
• Additional Resources

Introduction

Credentialing Made Easier

Figure1 – A Motor Carrier Licensing Coordinator Holds Credentials That Were Printed at the Company's Office

" E-credentialing is saving commercial trucking firms big money in time efficiency. Motor carriers' credentialing work can now be done electronically faster and more accurately right from their offices. "
— Jim Tutton, Washington Trucking Associations

Electronic credentialing has significantly improved the process for commercial motor carriers to apply for and receive their credentials. The new service is a key component of the Commercial Vehicle Information Systems and Networks (CVISN) infrastructure in Washington State. The state has successfully converted its existing or legacy licensing system to enable selected carriers and service bureaus to conduct credentialing transactions via the Internet. Known as "e-credentialing," the system is now connected to Washington State's Commercial Vehicle Information Exchange Window (CVIEW) system. CVIEW enables the licensing office to share credential data with roadside operations and with jurisdictions outside the state.

Officials from the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), the Washington State Department of Licensing (WSDOL), the Washington State Patrol (WSP), and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), plus the Washington Trucking Associations, are cooperating in the deployment of the e-credentialing system.

The new e-credentialing computer interface allows selected motor carriers and private service bureaus to apply for and print a number of commercial vehicle (CV) administrative documents—including invoices, temporary operating authorizations, and credentials—in their own offices, as shown in Figure 1. The credentialing interface requires high-speed Internet access. Access to e-credentialing is achieved through a database maintained by the vendor, Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (ACS).

The 18 motor carriers and eight service bureaus now taking advantage of e-credentialing in Washington State no longer have to wait days or weeks for mailed application materials, invoices, and other documents to travel to and from the state agency before their trucks can hit the road.

Data from the e-credentialing system are combined with the paper-based or legacy system CV credentialing records still being processed by the state, and both data sets are shared with state and regional users, including:

• The state's transponder-based electronic screening (preclearance or bypass) program
• The state's CV inspectors, allowing them to use near real-time data during roadside enforcement and safety inspections
• Other jurisdictions participating in regional CVISN partnerships
• Other national CV safety initiatives, such as the Safety and Fitness Electronic Record (SAFER) program and the Motor Carrier Management Information System.

When the CVISN program was launched in Washington State in 1995, it included plans for e-credentialing, electronic screening (weigh station bypass), and safety information exchange. The first CVISN-enabled WSP weigh station went online in March 1999, and fully automated e-credentialing became available on a trial basis in April 2001. At that time, WSDOL officials made a key decision—to design the ecredentialing system with direct interfaces into the Vehicle Information System for Tax Apportionment (VISTA). The state had been using VISTA for its in-house license and credentials processing since the late 1980s.

U.S. DOT's Role

The deployment of e-credentialing in Washington State is being funded in part through a cost-sharing partnership agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation's Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office (JPO). FMCSA manages the CVISN program with support from the JPO.

Purpose of This Document

This document summarizes the basic design of Washington State's e-credentialing program, its deployment and operation, and some of the benefits realized through the use of ITS.

WSDOL, WSP, and WSDOT use e-credentialing to:

• Make CV administration and roadside inspections more efficient
• Get commercial vehicles registered more quickly
• Keep commercial vehicles moving on the state's roads.

System Origin and Design

The overall purpose of CVISN is to transfer information among compatible electronic systems. A national CVISN architecture has been defined by FMCSA, working with the states and the transportation research and motor carrier communities, to maximize the mutual use of data (or "interoperability") among the participating jurisdictions.

Washington State transportation agencies were early proponents of using the set of advanced information technologies that became known as CVISN, and the state has been active in supporting CVISN. Washington was one of the eight original pilot states selected in 1996 for demonstration and evaluation of model systems.

WSDOL, WSP, and WSDOT started developing the e-credentialing program in keeping with the overall CVISN architecture by bringing together those who had the data and those who needed to use the data. Business, technical, and regulatory requirements were outlined, and developmental systems were checked against the requirements throughout the process. All state departments and agencies affected by the e-credentialing system—such as audit, financial, licensing, and enforcement—were involved in the process from design through implementation.

The database for the e-credentialing system resides on a mainframe computer in New York State and is operated by ACS, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The e-credentialing function is based on the company's VISTA/MVS (Motor Vehicle Services) system.

Washington State was the first to use this system for e-credentialing. According to Jason Stein of the ACS Phoenix office, "The CVISN concept moved from an abstraction to an actual application that benefited the state of Washington as well as its motor carriers."

WSDOL had been using the VISTA system for its International Registration Plan (IRP) and International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) for about 10 years prior to adding the e-credentialing system as part of its CVISN infrastructure deployment. The system bundles various credentialing systems into a one-stop shop environment available on the Internet. The e-credentialing database is also used to refresh the licensing portion of WSDOT's XCVIEW (Extensible CVIEW) system, as described in the next section.

System Operation

WSDOL's e-credentialing software is provided to motor carriers and service bureaus by the state at no cost to the participant. The system prompts the user to enter carrier-, fleet-, and vehicle-specific information required for licensing. The system provides drop-down lists for many common operations, saving time and helping to prevent data entry errors. Figure 2 shows examples of the motor carrier and WSDOL user interface screens for e-credentialing.

Motor carriers and service bureaus use their own computers and Internet links to access records and online forms to:

• Renew state credentials for an entire fleet
• Print temporary operating authorization or permanent credential documents on a laser printer
• Add a fleet
• Add vehicles to or delete vehicles from an existing fleet
• Change gross vehicle weight or weight group
• Add jurisdictions to an existing credential
• Replace credentials or cab cards
• Prepare an original IFTA tax return
• Request that credentials be printed at a designated DOL field office for remote pickup by a driver
• Conduct many credentialing transactions any time day or night, without leaving their offices.

WSDOL operates a help desk to coordinate support among the e-credentialing participants, the system vendor, and the state offices, both central and field offices. The state help desk averages about 20 incoming calls from participants per week. Some calls are in turn referred to the system vendor, which maintains a technical support center to resolve software or hardware problems.

Figure 2 – Motor Carrier (left) and State Licensing Administrator (right) User Interface Screens for E-Credentialing



Figure 3 – Legacy and CVISN Processes for Obtaining a CV Credential

Figure 3 compares the steps involved in the legacy and CVISN electronic processes for obtaining a CV credential, showing the difference in turnaround times.

International Perspective

A number of jurisdictions (states and Canadian provinces) process credentials using in-house or "home-grown" credentialing systems. VISTA is one of several systems available from private-sector, third-party vendors to assist jurisdictions in processing their IRP and/or IFTA credentials. Table 1, provided by the IRP and IFTA clearinghouses, indicates the approximate numbers of jurisdictions using each type of credentialing interface as of February 2004, mainly for the states' or provinces' own administrative employees to use in processing applications submitted in paper format.

Only a few jurisdictions other than Washington State currently offer a CVISN e-credentialing interface for the motor carriers or service bureaus themselves to use. Five states besides Washington are currently using the VISTA e-credentialing software.

E-Credentialing and CVIEW

"CVIEW" is a generic term for a Commercial Vehicle Operations-related (CVO-related) interface designed to share and store CV data, carrier credentials, and safety information. The system was initially developed by the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) through research and programming performed by staff at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. CVIEW—which refers to both the database storage and the integrated software operating system—can be adapted to a state's particular regulatory and CV operational requirements.

Extensible CVIEW Software

WSDOT has developed its own version of CVIEW, known as XCVIEW. Figure 4 shows the ways in which information, including e-credentialing data, travels to and from the Washington State CVIEW database. CVIEW also communicates with the U.S. DOT's nationwide SAFER system, operated by the John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, a Federal research center with headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

"Washington's XCVIEW is a building tool for a state to use to grow from its legacy system. Each state must still do some software development, but XCVIEW makes it easier."
— Doug Deckert, WSDOT

The "X" in XCVIEW stands for "extensible." This means that any state using the XCVIEW system can expand and customize the basic software structure, using extensible markup language (XML). Each state using XCVIEW can also set up customized, state-specific transactions or other functions with one or more other states. WSDOT is offering the XCVIEW software free of charge to other jurisdictions to use as a software starting point.

Credentialing transaction types are often unique to a given state. For example, trucks traveling between the states of Washington and Oregon must have credentials for payment of a Washington-specific vehicle safety inspection fee, which is not part of the national SAFER data system. WSDOT's XCVIEW was designed with this data field in place.

Figure 4 – Data Moving Into and Out of WSDOT's XCVIEW and Other Systems

Washington State's credentialing data and other information for vehicles that have associated transponders are imported into the central XCVIEW database. XCVIEW in turn provides the status of all credentialed vehicles to the state's electronic screening program. The vehicle- and carrier-specific data are downloaded or refreshed at each CVISN-enabled weigh station as changes occur. Credentialing data are passed between Washington State and the national SAFER system hourly.

Credentialing and E-Screening

As of early 2004, WSDOT has equipped seven WSP weigh and inspection stations with the Commercial Vehicle Roadside Information Sorting System (CRISS) software for CVISN electronic screening. The state plans to have three more stations online by June 2005, and four more after that, for an eventual total of 14 stations. WSDOT also collaborates internationally, with one weigh station in neighboring Canada currently using the state's CRISS software to support its own roadside enforcement.

The CRISS software in Washington State was the first in the nation to associate real-time digital photographs of specific trucks with corresponding vehicle data shown on the weigh station computer monitor, to assist in visual identification and enforcement.

When a transponder-equipped truck is about a mile upstream of a CVISN weigh station that is open, the truck is electronically identified by the CRISS software. The truck is also weighed in motion at mainline speed, and the CRISS algorithm queries the CVIEW database automatically, in real time.

If that truck's identifying code is in the Washington State database, and if all of the vehicle's information meets the state-defined screening criteria, then that truck would normally receive a green light on its in-vehicle transponder to bypass the weigh station. If there is a problem, such as an expired credential or a truck that exceeds its registered weight limit, or if the truck is chosen for a random pull-in, then the truck would get a red light on the transponder, signaling the driver to stop and report to the weigh station for inspection.

Beyond the automatic signaling function, the CRISS software also helps the WSP inspectors who operate the weigh stations. The software displays a picture and selected information about each commercial truck that is on the mainline approaching a weigh station. The system uses a computer algorithm, based on WIM data and number of axles, that displays information at the scalehouse for commercial vehicles only. Any potential problems with axle weight (or, for transponder-equipped trucks, any problems with credentials or safety status) are flagged and displayed in red on the screen to notify the WSP inspector.

According to John Nicholas, one of WSP's commercial vehicle enforcement program managers, it is very helpful for inspectors to have instant access to each truck's information—plus the photograph—before the truck arrives at the static scale. WSP inspectors report great improvements in traffic flow and a reduction in congestion at the weigh stations since CVISN e-screening began. Inspectors can more readily identify the trucks, and can concentrate their efforts on the subset of trucks most likely to be in violation of commercial vehicle regulations.

Who Participates?

"At this stage, electronic credentialing is not for everybody."
— Art Farley, WSDOL

WSDOL designed the e-credentialing system with higher-volume users in mind. In general, WSDOL is trying to increase the proportion of vehicles being credentialed electronically, not necessarily the proportion of carriers. A small handful of the highest volume carriers can represent a disproportionately large segment of the truck population in the state. The 177 motor carrier accounts now using e-credentialing in Washington State (about 4 percent of all interstate carriers) represent about 15 percent of the state's IRP commercial vehicles.

Of these 177 carriers, 18 log onto the e-credentialing system directly, and the other 159 carriers engage one of eight private-sector brokers or service bureaus authorized to process the carriers' credentials electronically. These service bureaus use the e-credentialing system on behalf of the motor carriers for whom they work.

The state identifies carriers and service bureaus that may be selected to participate in e-credentialing by watching the annual volume of transactions per carrier. With the current e-credentialing program, smaller carriers or independent owner-operators, who might conduct licensing transactions only once or a few times per year, would be less likely to benefit.

System administrators do not conduct any mass marketing or promotion for the e-credentialing system, but instead invite motor carriers and service bureaus to participate on a case-by-case basis. The system is expected to grow steadily, but there are no plans to make e-credentialing available for all motor carriers in the state. DOL officials estimate that a user population of approximately 40 e-credentialing motor carriers (up from the current level of 18 carriers) and 300 motor carriers working through service bureaus (up from 159 now) would represent the practical capacity of the current system and staffing resources.

Staffing Issues

CVISN e-credentialing has enabled state licensing staff to take on other, more pressing duties, and to pursue other state CVO objectives that were outside the team's capacity before CVISN was deployed. Because they spend less time entering data from paper applications, WSDOL administrative staff members now spend a greater portion of their time:

• Reviewing and quality-checking paper records of electronic transactions
• Interacting with system users
• Working on the new Performance and Registration Information Systems Management (PRISM) activities
• Helping ensure a higher level of accuracy for the data in the CVIEW system, through research and verification with authoritative sources of information.

When the e-credentialing program began in Washington State, there were concerns among state licensing staff about job cuts, in part because some of the data entry functions previously performed by state employees were being transferred to the motor carriers' administrative offices. According to Art Farley of WSDOL, such staffing changes did not materialize. CVISN has not had any great effect on staffing levels at the state. WSDOL does not perceive CVISN as a route to staff reductions.

What is PRISM? The Performance and Registration Information Systems Management program originated as a pilot project mandated by the U.S. Congress in 1991. The goal of the project was to explore the potential benefits of using state CV registration sanctions as an incentive to improve motor carrier safety. In 1998, Congress authorized additional funding to implement the PRISM program nationwide. PRISM includes two major processes: the Commercial Vehicle Registration Process and the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Process (MCSIP), which work in parallel to identify motor carriers and hold them responsible for the safety of their operations. The performance of unsafe carriers is improved through a comprehensive system of identification, education, awareness, safety monitoring, and treatment. The adoption of the PRISM program in Washington State has increased the ability of the state to identify vehicles and carriers using DOT numbers and Federal Employer Identification Numbers (FEINs), using the Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS). WSDOL also uses the credentialing database to identify carriers who need to update their MCS-150 (motor carrier identification) reports. For more information on the PRISM program, visit www.fmcsa.dot.gov/factsfigs/Prism.htm.

Scope of Deployment

Table 2 shows the populations of interstate carriers, fleets, vehicles, and transactions tracked in Washington State as of February 2004. A single transaction may involve one or many vehicles. Transaction counts provide a rough estimate of the state's credentialing activity, but do not correlate directly with vehicle counts. Table 2 also shows the proportion of each population that is covered by the CVISN e-credentialing system relative to the previous or legacy credential administration system.

	Interstate Carriers
Numbers of:	Legacy System	Electronic Credentialing	Percent Electronic
Motor Carrier Accounts	3,900	177	4%
Fleets	4,100	200	5%
Power Units	16,380	2,880	15%
Transactions per Year	8,577	1,236	13%

Figure5 – A Motor Carrier Office in Washington State with Its Own In-House License Plate Inventory to Support E-Credentialing

The following facts and figures summarize the scope of CVISN e-credentialing for interstate commercial vehicles registered in Washington State:

• Eighteen motor carriers in the state have access to e-credentialing.
• Eight private-sector service bureaus are electronically processing credentials for 159 other IRP carrier accounts.
• In all, 177 motor carrier accounts are being administered electronically, representing 200 fleets and 2,880 power units, or approximately 15 percent of all registered commercial vehicles in the state. (A single carrier account can comprise more than one fleet, depending on its scope of operations.)
• Three of the largest carriers also have in-house inventories of license plates, from which they can draw for same-day permanent credentialing. One such carrier's office is shown in Figure 5.

Customer Feedback: Gordon Trucking Colleen Bohle, coordinator of licensing at Gordon Trucking, Inc., (GTI) in Pacific, Washington, sums up e-credentialing: "Our owner-operators love it! They can get plates and permits the same day. Having an actual plate instead of a temporary operating authority makes the drivers less likely to have to stop and report for a closer inspection at a weigh station or port of entry. It saves the drivers time." Located 30 miles south of Seattle, GTI operates more than 1,000 power units. About 80 percent of their trucks are company-owned; the rest are leased from owner-operators. The carrier adds approximately 200 power units per year to its fleet, plus performs other types of credentialing transactions on an ongoing basis. The carrier also conducts some of its state-required credentialing transactions online with Idaho and Oregon. Before GTI was selected for e-credentialing, Ms. Bohle used a typewriter to prepare individual forms to apply for credentials and for temporary operating authority. She estimates that using the computer in her own office to apply for and administer credentials saves her nearly one hour of time per power unit. The company is one of three motor carriers in the state with the convenience of an on-site inventory of license plates to support the e-credentialing program. Since joining the e-credentialing program in 2001, the company has reduced costs by going from two to 1.5 full-time equivalent (FTE) administrative staff positions dedicated to license processing. As for feedback from the company's drivers, Ms. Bohle says they have no complaints. She has heard that some enforcement agencies in jurisdictions outside Washington State were at first reluctant to recognize the laser-printed credentials as authentic during roadside inspections. As e-credentialing becomes more common, law enforcement officers are beginning to adapt to the change in printed format (Figure 6). When the company signed on to the e-credentialing program, personnel from their licensing and information systems teams attended a training session at the WSDOL in Olympia. Follow-up training was also held at the motor carrier site after the software was installed. Day-to-day telephone support is available from the WSDOL and from the system vendor. Figure 6 – Examples of Washington State's Previous Format Commercial Credential (left) and the New Laser-Printed Credential (right)

Benefits and Lessons Learned

Benefits

"What motor carriers want is to get their vehicles on the road quickly. We want freight mobility. E-credentialing allows carriers to get temporary operating authority and in some cases actual plates the same day without leaving their office. In effect, the e-credentialing participant becomes an extension of the state DOL agency."
— Art Farley, WSDOL

The reduced shipping and handling expenses and turnaround times for the paper documents, forms, and credentials, which formerly cycled from the state to the motor carrier and back, have benefited WSDOL, WSDOT, the motor carrier industry, and their customers. Other benefits from Washington State's e-credentialing deployment include the following:

• The electronic system saves time through fewer administrative corrections caused by missing or illegible information.
• In the legacy system, carriers often make adjustments to their fleets during the time interval that the application is in the mail or being processed by the state, resulting in update cycles and refunds or additional payments within an application cycle. The electronic system is much closer to real-time processing, reducing the need for such mid-cycle transactions.
• CVO data are being used in new ways. For example, integrating licensing and credentials data with roadside functions has brought to light data errors and discrepancies that had existed all along, but that were not typically noticed. The computerized processing of information, from several data sources concerning a single carrier or vehicle, has enabled drivers and state officials in Washington to cross-check records and zero in on problems in the data, eventually resolving them. The state recognizes that standardizing and cleaning up the data will be an ongoing, multiyear process that will ultimately benefit users through more accurate recordkeeping.
• The WSP inspectors have benefited from electronic access to real-time credentialing, safety, and WIM data. This information helps the inspectors save time and focus their attention in deciding which vehicles to call in for a closer look, and which to return to the roadway. Subjectively, the WSP has observed an increase in the rate of finding weight limit violations and issuing citations at the scalehouse, because transponder-equipped trucks operating within the regulations are often given green lights to bypass.
• WSP has also noticed that e-screening with CVIEW data has made the highways safer by helping control the volume of traffic flow through and around weigh stations.

"When the CVISN e-screening program started, it took roadside inspectors a little while to begin to trust the data, but now they trust and rely on the data to do their jobs. The credentialing data available online help the WSP inspectors spot potential violations more quickly and efficiently."
— John Nicholas, WSP

Lessons Learned

"Industry has been a full participant, and has really been a champion, in terms of securing funding and legislative support within the state. This got the program up and running more quickly."
— Joel Hiatt, FMCSA

Lessons learned from Washington State's e-credentialing deployment include the following:

• Trucking industry involvement has been vital to the success of the e-credentialing program. According to Joel Hiatt of FMCSA, "Public-private partnering is the single greatest factor in the success of CVISN in the state. The state government recognizes the importance of engaging and preserving the support of the motor carrier industry."

• Information exchange has helped states, such as Washington, that were early in adopting CVISN technologies as well as later-adopting states.

  Washington State learned a great deal from being an active participant in FMCSA—sponsored information exchanges and planning programs intended to bring together ideas from various states and other stakeholders during the program development and deployment process.

  For example, state officials interacted with their counterparts in other jurisdictions to share source code freely. WSDOT modified an e-permitting system from Utah to create the "e-SNOOPI" (System Network for Oversize, Overweight Permit Information) application, one of the first e-commerce oversize/overweight permitting programs in the nation. Likewise, Alaska is now developing its own version of Washington State's CRISS program for electronic screening.

  WSDOT uses an e-mail information sharing service for CVISN system architects, where information technology specialists post questions and answers regarding technical topics such as passing XML data packages among systems, installing and configuring wireless systems for roadside enforcement, and standardizing vocabulary.

  WSDOT and WSDOL continue to consult with other states that are at earlier and later stages of CVISN deployment in areas such as the acquisition process, request for proposal (RFP) development, defining technical specifications and business requirements, and making vendor comparisons and evaluations.

• WSDOL found that it received a better return on its infrastructure investment by using electronic systems for IRP credentialing than for IFTA tax return filing. Compared with IFTA processing, electronic IRP transactions allow the state to recover its investment in systems and training more quickly and provide greater immediate benefits to motor carriers. IRP credentialing yields comparatively greater efficiencies for the state licensing administrators.
• The system vendor found that getting all parties at the state involved from the beginning of the software development process was critical. Jason Stein of ACS indicates that a thorough and efficient requirements definition session makes development, testing, and production implementation run much more smoothly. A comprehensive requirements definition process also typically helps to minimize the amount of "scope creep," in which new and changing requirements can arbitrarily draw resources from previously agreed-upon priorities.

"CVISN has shown the Federal government where and how some common CVO functions can be drawn together. Jurisdictions have started talking and sharing ideas and data, which did not happen often enough before."
— Doug Deckert, WSDOT

Conclusions and Next Steps

The Washington State deployment of electronic credentialing for commercial motor carriers has seen early success, in part because it enjoys a high level of support from the motor carrier industry. The industry perceives tangible benefits in terms of labor savings for their licensing staff who can apply for credentials without leaving their offices, less duplication of transcription/data entry effort, and fewer (or more quickly identified and corrected) clerical errors.

The designers of the e-credentialing system in Washington State started with the specific needs of their state and then, through planning and negotiation, crafted a system that is compatible with the CVISN national architecture.

Looking to the future, WSDOL plans to expand the number of commercial motor carriers participating in e-credentialing, up to the state system's practical capacity. WSDOL also hopes to offer motor carriers check-free electronic payment of credentialing invoices through an automated clearinghouse system, but is currently working on service fee and funding issues.

Footnotes

¹ 1 Source: IRP and IFTA clearinghouses. The total includes 48 U.S. States, the District of Columbia, and 10 Canadian provinces. Alaska and Hawaii are excluded because they are exempt from participating in the IRP and IFTA programs.

Additional Resources

Washington State Department of Transportation
Jim Stuart, CVISN Program Manager
Phone 360-705-7987
stuartj@wsdot.wa.gov

Doug Deckert
Phone 360-705-7364
deckerd@wsdot.wa.gov
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov

Washington State Department of Licensing
Art Farley
Phone 360-664-1820
afarley@dol.wa.gov
http://www.dol.wa.gov

Washington State Patrol
Capt. Coral L. Estes
Phone 360-753-0350
coral.estes@wsp.wa.gov
http://www.wsp.wa.gov

Washington Trucking Associations
Jim Tutton
Phone 253-838-1650
jim@wtassns.com
http://www.wtatrucking.com

Affiliated Computer Services, Inc.
Jason Stein
Phone 602-412-2070
jason.stein@acs-inc.com
http://www.acs-inc.com

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
Jeff Secrist
Phone 202-385-2367
jeff.secrist@fmcsa.dot.gov
http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov

Joel Hiatt
Phone 404-562-3610
joel.hiatt@fmcsa.dot.gov
http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov

Federal Highway Administration Resource Center Locations

Baltimore, MD
10 S. Howard Street
Suite 4000
Baltimore, MD 21201
Phone 410-962-0093

Atlanta, GA
61 Forsyth Street, SW
Suite 17T26
Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone 404-562-3570

Olympia Fields, IL
19900 Governors Drive
Suite 301
Olympia Fields, IL 60461
Phone 708-283-3500

San Francisco, CA
201 Mission Street
Suite 2100
San Francisco, CA 94105
Phone 415-744-3102

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Service Centers

Eastern Service Center
802 Cromwell Park Drive
Suite N
Glen Burnie, MD 21061
Phone 443-703-2240

Midwestern Service Center
19900 Governors Drive
Suite 210
Olympia Fields, IL 60461
Phone 708-283-3577

Southern Service Center
61 Forsyth Street, SW
Suite 17T75
Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone 404-562-3600

Western Service Center
201 Mission Street
Suite 2100
San Francisco, CA 94105
Phone 415-744-3088