Implementation Guidelines - Federal Transit Administration - U.S. ...

Chapter 12. PROGRAM
MONITORING
As an FTA grantee/subrecipient, you can
contract out your drug and alcohol testing
program functions, but you cannot contract
away your compliance responsibilities. If
your service agents do not perform testing
services consistent with the regulations, your
agency’s good faith effort is not a defense to
a DOT enforcement action [§40.15(c)] (i.e.,
loss of FTA funds). You are always
accountable for noncompliance, whether it’s
your own program, or you outsource to
contractors who perform safety-sensitive
functions. You must ensure that contractors
meet the regulatory requirements and their
respective service agents have the required
qualifications. In order to remain in
compliance, you must take whatever action
is necessary to ensure compliance.
As a result, transit systems should
periodically assess the compliance of their
program, re-evaluate their program needs,
assess their level of satisfaction with current
service agents, and apraise the program’s
benefits.
Section 1. PROGRAM
MANAGEMENT
Prior to implementation of their drug and
alcohol testing programs, many transit
managers expressed concern regarding the
cost of the program and the subsequent
burden it would have on their operating
environment. Now that several years have
passed, most of these concerns have not
materialized or have been overcome. For
the most part, testing programs are operating
smoothly and have become part of the
Chapter 12. Program Monitoring 12-1 August 2002