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BrokerDefender
Methodology

How the BrokerDefender decision engine works.

Every vetting runs the carrier's FMCSA record through a deterministic decision engine that flags critical, warning, and pass-level factors. The engine is the same for every carrier, every user, every plan tier. This page documents exactly what it evaluates and how.

Inputs

The engine takes two inputs:

  • Carrier record: retrieved live from the FMCSA QCMobile API at mobile.fmcsa.dot.gov using the carrier's USDOT number as the lookup key. The full response payload is stored unmodified before any decision logic runs.
  • Load type: Interstate or In-state, selected by the broker on the vetting form. Several factors evaluate differently depending on this context.

Critical factors

Any one critical factor produces a RED determination ("Disqualifying flags found"). Critical factors capture conditions where a carrier cannot legally cover the load or has been formally judged unsafe by FMCSA.

  • Operating Authority absent or inappropriate for the load type. For an interstate load, the carrier must hold active for-hire interstate authority. For an in-state load, any active authority (interstate or intrastate) is acceptable; only complete absence of authority fails.
  • USDOT status is Out-of-Service. FMCSA has ordered the carrier off the road; tendering a load to them would dispatch an unauthorized carrier.
  • Federal safety rating is Unsatisfactory. The lowest rating FMCSA issues. Rare in practice but always disqualifying.
  • Liability insurance missing or under the required minimum (interstate loads). If FMCSA requires the carrier to maintain a BIPD filing and none is on file or the amount is below the federal minimum, the carrier cannot legally cover regulated freight. The same gap on an in-state load is downgraded to a warning, since federal liability filings may not be the operative coverage requirement.
  • Crash exposure with fatal involvement above the per-fleet threshold. Raw crash counts are misleading for large carriers; the engine normalizes by power units. A carrier averaging more than 0.5 crashes per truck over 24 months, with at least one fatal, fails. Crash exposure without fatalities at the same rate is a warning, not a critical.
  • No FMCSA record at all. A USDOT number that returns no carrier record means the entity cannot be validated for this screening. API outages and invalid responses stop the vetting and do not produce a determination.

Warning factors

Warning factors produce a YELLOW determination ("Review recommended") unless a critical also fires. They are not automatic blocks; they're conditions a careful broker should investigate before tendering a load.

  • Conditional safety rating. The middle FMCSA rating; the rating Caribe Transport held when C.H. Robinson dispatched it in the case that became the May 14, 2026 Supreme Court ruling.
  • Out-of-service rates significantly above national average. When the carrier's vehicle-OOS or driver-OOS rate exceeds 150% of the FMCSA-published national average. National averages come from the live carrier record when present and fall back to recent published values when not.
  • MCS-150 flagged as outdated. Federal registration must be refiled every two years; FMCSA flags overdue filings. Stale registration is often associated with dormant or chameleon entities.
  • Zero roadside inspections in 24 months despite an established authority. A carrier with active authority and power units but no enforcement contact has no third-party safety evidence. May indicate paper-only operation or systematic inspection avoidance.
  • Elevated crash exposure without fatalities. Crashes per truck above the threshold described above, but no fatal involvement. Warrants review but does not auto-fail.

Pass factors

Pass factors are positive signals listed in the report so the broker can see the basis for a clean determination. They do not affect the score on their own; they document the affirmative side of the diligence.

  • Active for-hire operating authority with no contradicting flags.
  • Satisfactory FMCSA safety rating.
  • Healthy roadside-inspection volume (20+ inspections in 24 months).
  • Required liability filing on file at or above the federal minimum.
  • For in-state loads with an intrastate-only carrier: explicit confirmation that the carrier is appropriately authorized for the specified state, with a caveat that the broker must confirm the load stays within that state.

Determination

The engine assigns a decision score starting at 100 and deducting weights for each fired factor. Critical factors deduct 40-60 points and force a RED outcome regardless of the resulting score. Warning factors deduct 10-30 points and produce YELLOW unless a critical has fired. No factors fired produces GREEN at 100/100. GREEN means that no configured disqualifying or warning flag was detected; it is not a booking instruction.

The same determination drives all four PDFs in the Due Diligence Packet. The Risk Audit's PASS/WARNING/CRITICAL matrix reads from the same factor list the Executive Vetting Report shows. The Compliance Attestation records the same outcome string. The Forensic Audit Record references the same engine version. There is one source of truth.

Versioning

Every vetting record persists the engine version that produced it. Future engine changes don't alter past records; an auditor reviewing a packet generated today is reviewing the determination the engine made at that moment, with the rules as they stood then.

Legal context

Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC (U.S. May 14, 2026) held that a negligent-selection claim of the type before the Court falls within the FAAAA motor-vehicle safety exception. It did not prescribe the factors in this engine. BrokerDefender's factor set is an operational policy informed by FMCSA data and carrier-selection practice; it is not a legal test. BrokerDefender does not provide legal advice, and brokers remain responsible for the booking decision.