If your company has CDL drivers, federal rules require them to be in a random testing pool. 49 CFR 382.305 sets the minimum annual rates, and the selections must be scientifically random, unannounced, and spread reasonably throughout the calendar year, with every selected driver tested in the period. PSI administers that pool as your consortium/third-party administrator: we run the selections, coordinate the collections, and keep the auditable trail. The results path is the one Part 40 prescribes: the laboratory reports directly to the Medical Review Officer, the MRO reports the verified result directly to your designated employer representative, and no service agent sits between them (49 CFR 40.355(b) and (c)). Most employers also have people the DOT rule does not cover, which typically leads to a separate non-DOT pool under company policy, run with the same discipline but kept completely apart from the DOT pool as 49 CFR 40.13 requires.
When this is the program
- An owner-operator who must belong to a consortium to keep operating
- A fleet that needs its random program run correctly and documented
- An employer adding a policy-based random pool for non-CDL staff
- A company that just received an audit notice and needs its records in order
What's included
- Computer-randomized selections at the federally published minimum rates, unannounced and spread reasonably throughout the calendar year (49 CFR 382.305(k))
- A parallel non-DOT pool for policy-covered staff, run on the same cycle and kept completely separate, on a non-federal form
- Collections at our office, a designated site, or on site at your location
- MRO verification on DOT drug tests, as Part 40 requires; breath alcohol results of 0.02 or higher go from our technician directly to your DER
- Clearinghouse C/TPA designation for covered drivers
- Policy support, plus a written enrollment confirmation for your convenience; the records an auditor examines are the selection lists and testing records kept under 49 CFR 382.401
- 24/7 emergency response available as a separate retained program for clients who enroll: post-accident and reasonable-suspicion collection coordination outside business hours
- Named add-on services when you need them: motor vehicle records, Clearinghouse queries, policy development, supervisor training, all quoted at member rates
How it works with PSI
- Selections, notifications, and documentation handled by people who do this every day
- A DER support line answered by a person who knows your program
- DOT and non-DOT staff covered in two different pools by the same administrator, kept separate the way 49 CFR 40.13 requires
Common questions
What are the current random testing rates?
For 2026 the FMCSA minimums are 50 percent of driver positions for controlled substances and 10 percent for alcohol, unchanged since 2020 (49 CFR 382.305(b)). PHMSA's 2026 pipeline rate is also 50 percent for drugs. Your pool is selected at whatever rates the regulation sets, and the dates are spread reasonably throughout the calendar year, which is the rule's own wording.
I'm a one-truck owner-operator. Do I really need this?
Yes. A one-person company cannot form a random pool by itself, so the practical way to meet 49 CFR 382.305 is membership in a consortium that makes the selections independently. Enrollment places you in the pool and produces the documentation an auditor or a broker asks to see. For an owner-operator, and only for an owner-operator, PSI may also make the testing decisions the rule otherwise reserves to an employer (49 CFR 40.355(h)).
What does membership include?
Pool placement and selections, collection coordination, MRO verification on DOT drug tests, Clearinghouse C/TPA designation, a written enrollment confirmation, policy support, and a support line answered by a person. Additional services are available by name at member rates; we quote them for your program on a call.
Regulatory notes
A C/TPA may make testing decisions and no-show refusal determinations only for an owner-operator or other self-employed driver (49 CFR 40.355(h), (j)(1)). For employed drivers those decisions belong to the employer's DER. A service agent cannot act as a DER (49 CFR 40.3, 40.355(k)).