Carrier Risk Management Checklist

Pull SMS data on Unsafe Driving, HOS Compliance, Driver Fitness, Controlled Substances/Alcohol, Vehicle Maintenance, Hazmat, and Crash Indicator. Flag any BASIC above the FMCSA intervention threshold (65 for general, 60 for hazmat/passenger). Also note inspection volume — a clean record with two inspections is not the same as a clean record with two hundred.

Record the official rating from the SAFER snapshot. Conditional and Unsatisfactory ratings require senior approval before booking; Unrated is common for newer carriers and is not by itself disqualifying.

Request the certificate directly from the insurance agent listed on the FMCSA filing — never accept a COI emailed by the carrier or a dispatch service. Confirm auto liability ($1M minimum for general freight), cargo coverage ($100K typical, higher for high-value lanes), and that your company is named as certificate holder.

Check Carrier411, Highway, MyCarrierPortal, or Truckstop CarrierWatch for double-brokering complaints, identity-theft alerts, and chameleon-carrier flags. Recent MC reactivations after a long dormancy and recent address or officer changes are common chameleon signals.

Send the SAFER snapshot, the watchlist alert detail, and the carrier's stated point of contact to the compliance lead. Do not book the load while the review is pending — tell the customer-facing rep the carrier is on hold, not approved.

Call the phone number on the FMCSA registration — not the number on the rate sheet or the email signature. Ask for the legal officer's name and verify it matches the FMCSA filing. This single call catches most identity-theft attempts before the load is dispatched.

Use the current master agreement template — not a prior version. Confirm the carrier signs the latest indemnification, double-brokering prohibition, and Carmack liability provisions. Track signature via DocuSign or your TMS contract module so the executed PDF lands in the carrier file automatically.

Most broker-carrier agreements auto-renew annually but require COI re-verification yearly. Set a 30-day pre-expiration reminder against the auto-liability expiration captured during qualification.

BASIC scores update monthly with new roadside inspection data. A carrier that was clean at onboarding can cross the intervention threshold within one quarter after a string of out-of-service violations. Schedule a monthly batch refresh through Highway, MyCarrierPortal, or your TMS integration.

Set the TMS to block dispatch automatically when the COI expires. Most disputes over uninsured losses trace back to a COI that lapsed three weeks before the claim and was never re-verified.

Pull the carrier's last 30 days of MacroPoint, FourKites, or Trucker Tools tracking compliance plus on-time pickup and delivery percentages from the TMS. Flag carriers below 90% tracking compliance — that is the leading indicator of double-brokering and load theft.

Record claim count, paid amount, and Carmack response time. A carrier with three open claims older than 60 days is operationally distressed; pause new bookings until claims close or the cargo insurer responds.

Document the specific metrics that triggered the plan — for example, on-time below 85%, tracking compliance below 90%, or two cargo claims in the quarter. Send written notice to the carrier with the targets they must hit by day 60 to remain in the active pool.

Carriers on improvement plans should not get high-value, hazmat, or temperature-controlled loads. Update the TMS carrier profile so the load board posting rules exclude these commodities automatically.