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

extensions (e.g., total of 5 years).
Both parties should have the
right to terminate the contract for
cause and/or convenience with
advance written notice;
• Your right to examine
consortium and individual
service agent facilities, records,
and procedures at your expense.
State your right to review all
written, printed, and computerbased
drug and alcohol program
records and reports (including
name-specific records or
reports), files, materials, data,
documents, agreements,
contracts, policies, service agent
training records, and statements
required by Part 40 and FTA
regulations. A transit agency
official or a third party
authorized to access such
confidential records will conduct
the review, and all personal,
name-specific information will
be kept confidential;
• The need for periodic (i.e.,
monthly, quarterly, semi-annual)
reports of activities related to
your transit agency. Specify the
information that is to be included
in the reports and the format.
Also indicate if the consortium
will be responsible for preparing
information for inclusion in the
transit system’s annual MIS
report.
• Timeliness requirements. Since
the consortium potentially adds
an additional administrative layer
to your testing program, you
must ensure that it acts
expeditiously to avoid negative
effects on your employees or
your operations through
unnecessary reporting delays.
Section 40.345(c) states that
C/TPAs must ensure in every
case, that the transmission of
information to employers meets
all requirements for
confidentiality and timing as if
the service agent sent the
information directly to the
employer. You may wish to
negotiate liquidated damage
clauses for consortium failures in
this area.
• Quality control requirements.
Specify quality control
procedures the consortium will
perform, including degree of
service agent oversight and
enforcement, and if needed, blind
sample testing
Section 7. HOW TO
EXPLORE CONSORTIA
FURTHER
For more information on consortia:
• Obtain and review a copy of
FTA’s Drug and Alcohol
Consortia Manual that is
available from the Office of
Safety and Security at (202) 366­
2896.
• Contact other transit systems
participating in consortia, ask
about their experience, and find
out if their approaches might
work for you.
Chapter 11. Joining a Consortium 11-14 August 2002