US Motor Carrier Agency looks to stop fraud, theft with Idemia IDV solution

The US Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued a “limited source justification rationale” document to support its intent to award a single, firm-fixed price contract to IDEMIA Identity & Security USA LLC (Idemia Public Security) for identification verification support services.

FMCSA is the lead US federal agency responsible for regulating and providing safety oversight of commercial motor vehicles. It develops the standards to test and license commercial motor vehicle drivers, enforces federal regulations governing the safe transportation of hazardous materials, and identifies and investigates carriers of household goods which have exhibited a substantial pattern of consumer abuse.

FMCSA is working to deploy an “identity proofing solution” to reduce and/or eliminate “the increased fraud and freight theft” it says is occurring throughout the Commercial Motor Vehicle industry through implementation and integration of a reliable system for verifying and securing individuals’ identities related to licensing and related credentialing and registration.

FMCSA said it’s imperative that these services are secured to mitigate all opportunities for fraud and theft, which it says includes identity theft, the hijacking of FMCSA accounts, the selling of Motor Carrier numbers (these numbers identify carriers that transport regulated commodities for hire in interstate commerce), PIN numbers, fraudulent/fake registrations, etc.

FMCSA said “The fraud occurring today also includes foreign actors,” adding that “a recent meeting with the FBI identified additional concerns beyond the monetary loss to the industry and public.”

Fraud and identity theft occurs when entities use another motor carrier’s assigned US Department of Transportation (USDOT) number when not authorized to do so, or when someone acts as a broker and is not registered with FMCSA.

FMCSA earlier issued an advisory warning “that some motor carrier identities have been compromised and independent owner-operators are being provided fraudulent lease agreements, certificates of insurance, and fictitiously obtained temporary registrations” causing some drivers to unknowingly operate without proper operating authority, registration, and insurance.

In other cases, drivers and carriers are intentionally obtaining and using false vehicle registrations, including International Fuel Tax Agreements and International Registration Plan documentation, and displaying a USDOT number without the knowledge and consent of the motor carrier to which the number is registered. In these cases, the driver is generally the perpetrator of the fraudulent activity, and the motor carrier is the victim.

The objectives of the IDEMIA contract are:

• Verify legitimacy: Ensure that the person claiming an identity is who they say they are, preventing unauthorized access and fraudulent activities, and safeguarding individuals from unauthorized use of their personal information for fraudulent purposes.
• Prevent fraud: Identify and mitigate instances of fraud, including account takeover, false identity creation, and other deceptive practices.
• Enhancing security: Mitigate the risk of unauthorized access, data breaches, and fraudulent transactions by implementing robust identity verification processes and enabling trustworthy and secure digital transactions by ensuring individuals engaging in online activities are authenticated and authorized.
• Protecting sensitive data: Prevent the exposure of confidential data by ensuring only authorized individuals have access to specific resources or services.

The full suite of services FMCSA requires include an identity verification that’s accessible by both biometric-enabled mobile devices and at in-person credential application, registration, and testing locations.

FMCSA said IDEMIA is the only company that’s capable of fulfilling the contract because of the “unique or specialized nature of the work,” and “because of the urgency” by FMCSA “to get the services in place.”

Furthermore, FMCSA explained, IDEMIA has more than 1,500 physical locations across the US and US territories for any applicant who requires in-person assistance with FMCSA’s application process, and that these centers provide Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) credentialing for which IDEMIA is the only company approved to handle.

FMCSA also pointed out that IDEMIA directly supports and manages 36 State Department of Motor Vehicle organizations, “making them the only vendor with direct access to 36 DMV Systems of Record,” and is “already very familiar with FMCSA” through its support of both the issuance of Commercial Motor Vehicle licenses and assisting state clients with FMCSA grant applications.

FMCSA stated that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) facial recognition technology evaluation report found that IDEMIA’s facial recognition algorithms – part of its Identity & Verification Platform Product (ID&V) – achieved the best accuracy of 99.88% in the largest datasets, and attained the highest accuracy of 99.9% ever achieved in NIST’s Face Recognition Vendor Test.

It “far outranked the rest of the submissions in unbiased matching relative to race, gender, and age,” said FMCSA’s justification for its intent to award INDEMIA its contract.

FMCSA further stated that IDEMIA is the only company that’s authorized to provide, install, upgrade, or maintain the software for the IDEMIA ID&V as a Service, and does not have any other sales channels, partners, or resellers for this technology.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  face biometrics  |  government purchasing  |  IDEMIA  |  Idemia Public Security  |  identity verification  |  TWIC  |  U.S. Government