CVISN Success Hangs on Compatability of Vendor Systems

Disputes over the sharing of carrier information are choking progress on a nationwide on-highway truck clearance program, federal officials claim.

Two private industry competitors supply the majority of services for the automated carrier indentification that is at the heart of electronic port-of-entry clearance, which government wants to offer to trucking on a national scale within the next six years. They are PrePass, which is overseen by Help Inc., and Norpass, originally the creation of the Oregon Department of Transportation as an answer to PrePass and now a growing multistate consortium.

Both services provide the on-vehicle transponders and the software that send information from the truck to the computers in a port of entry, allowing state officials to instantaneously check the identity, safety condition and tax status of in-bound trucks.

PrePass is the outgrowth of a Western compact formed in the early 1980s to break down some of the state barriers to trucking. Lockheed Martin IMS, which seeks to make a profit from the service, supplies the technology and administers PrePass. HELP Inc., which is a board of representatives from trucking and participating states, sets the policy.

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