FMCSA Clearinghouse Annual Query Requirement
The deadline for conducting your first Annual Queries in the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse (DACH) is January 5, 2021. Annual Queries are to be conducted at least once in a 12-month rolling period. For example, if you conduct your first Annual Queries on November 1st then your next Annual Queries will need to be conducted no later than November 1st of the following year. If you are a motor carrier employer of CDL drivers, Annual Queries are required to be conducted on all drivers per § 382.701. Failure to conduct the required queries could result in fines of up to $2,500 per driver.
Learn more about annual queries with our 10-minute Video Presentation.
To complete a query, you will log in to your FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse account, go to My Dashboard, Queries, Conduct a Query. Complete the driver’s information to submit the query. The driver information you will need is first name, last name, date of birth, and the Country and State the driver license was issued in. Select whether you are conducting a Full or Limited Query. For a Full query you will mark “No” this not part of a Pre-employment screening. For a Limited Query you will need to check that you do have a signed Limited Consent Form on record for the drivers. Employers will need to have a Query Plan balance of at least the number of queries you are conducting. You can purchase $1.25 query credits from the FMCSA Clearinghouse at https://clearinghouse.fmcsa.dot.gov/Query/Plan.
Clearinghouseservices.com is a private company that can help you with your annual query requirements. Services are offered for assistance with all employer requirements in the Clearinghouse. Clearinghouseservices.com also offers assistance to drivers, C/TPA’s, TPA’s, SAP’ and MRO.
An Annual Query can be conducted as a Full Query or a Limited Query. A full Query requires the driver to be registered with the Clearinghouse to provide electronic consent. A Limited Query requires a paper Annual Limited Consent Form to be signed by the driver and kept on record with the company. The limited query makes more sense for your annual query requirement.
Bulk Upload Query
If you have several drivers, you are able to conduct a bulk upload for these queries whether you are conducting Full or Limited Queries. You will need to enter the information on the available bulk upload template and save it. The DACH has updated the process to accept tab-delimited file, XLS file, or XLSX files. When conducting bulk queries, you will use the following query types:
QueryType – This field contains the type of query that is being requested. The values should be 1, 2, 3, or 4 with the values indicating the following:
- Limited Query
- Full Query
- Pre-employment Query
- Annual Limited to Full Query with Automatic Consent Request
To conduct a bulk upload, you will log in to your FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse account, go to My Dashboard, Queries, Submit a Bulk Upload, choose the spreadsheet to upload.
Outsourcing Clearinghouse Responsibilities
Employers have the option of hiring a Consortium/Third Party Administrator (C/TPA) to manage their Clearinghouse account for them. Owner-operators are required to have a C/TPA to manage the Clearinghouse. The definition of an Owner-Operator as it pertains to the DACH is any owner of a company that is also a driver, regardless of the size of the company.
C/TPAs are able to conduct the queries on behalf of their employer clients. The employer will need to have registered, purchased a Query Plan and designated the third-party administrator (TPA or C/TPA) in the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse.
When conducting queries on a company’s behalf you will need to choose the company you are conducting queries for from the dropdown of employers that have designated you as their C/TPA.
To complete a query, you will log in to your FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse account, go to My Dashboard, Queries, Conduct a Query. Select the company you are conducting queries for from the dropdown list, complete the driver’s information to submit the query. The driver information you will need is first name, last name, date of birth, and the Country and State the driver license was issued in. Select whether you are conducting a Full or Limited Query. For a Full query you will mark “No” this not part of a Pre-employment screening. For a Limited Query you will need to check that you do have a signed Limited Consent Form on record for the drivers. Employers will need to have a Query Plan balance of at least the number of queries you are conducting.
C/TPAs also have the option of conducting queries manually one at a time or in a bulk upload. Bulk upload queries can only be submitted for one company per spreadsheet.
To conduct a bulk upload, you will log in to your FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse account, go to My Dashboard, Queries, Submit a Bulk Upload, choose the spreadsheet to upload.
Whether and employer or TPA, you can get expert and professional assistance for you clearinghouse responsibilities from Clearinghouseservices.com. As previously mentioned Clearinghouseservices.com is a private company and fees are charged for assistance in the Clearinghouse.
