A drug and alcohol consortium is a shared random testing pool run by a third-party administrator. An owner-operator who drives a truck requiring a CDL has to be in one, because 49 CFR 382.103(b) requires an employer who employs only himself or herself as a driver to run random testing from a pool of two or more covered employees, and one person cannot be that pool. Published membership prices run $66 to $299 per driver per year, with tests usually billed separately; the consortium TenFour refers members to charges $99 a year for the whole account.
Why an owner-operator cannot run their own pool
Random testing under 49 CFR 382.305 has rules a one-person company cannot meet alone. Selections must come from a scientifically valid method that gives every driver an equal chance each time names are drawn (382.305(i)). Tests must be unannounced and spread reasonably through the year (382.305(k)). A driver who is selected must go to the collection site immediately (382.305(l)). Nobody can surprise themselves with a random test, and 382.103(b) closes the question by requiring the self-employed driver's random program to have two or more covered employees in the selection pool.
What the rule allows instead is in 382.305(j)(2): any employer may use a service agent, such as a C/TPA, to make the selections, and its drivers may be part of a larger pool, as long as the agent tests at the required rate and only covered drivers are in the pool. That is a consortium: your name in a pool with drivers from other carriers, drawn by a system you do not control.
How does a drug consortium work?
You enroll, take a pre-employment drug test, and your name goes into the pool. The consortium draws names on a schedule, commonly each quarter, at the minimum rates FMCSA sets for the year. For 2026 those are 50 percent of average driver positions for controlled substances (382.305(b)(2)) and 10 percent for alcohol (382.305(b)(1)).
Fifty percent does not mean you are tested every other year. The rate applies across the pool, and each draw gives every name the same chance, so a one-truck owner can be picked twice in one year and not at all the next. When you are selected, the consortium tells you, and you go to a collection site right away. Failing to appear when a C/TPA calls you for a test is a refusal under 49 CFR 382.107, and a refusal carries the same consequences as a positive result. Alcohol tests are given only just before, during or just after safety-sensitive work (382.305(m)).
Consortium vs TPA: what the terms mean
The regulations use one term for both: consortium/third-party administrator, or C/TPA, a service agent that manages drug and alcohol testing for employers. The consortium is the pooled random program; the third-party administrator is the company running it, arranging collections and keeping the records. For an owner-operator they are almost always the same company, and it has a second job. 49 CFR 382.705(b)(6) requires you to designate a C/TPA in the Clearinghouse to report your own violations, because you cannot report on yourself. How to make that designation is in Clearinghouse registration for owner-operators.
What a DOT consortium costs
Membership is priced per driver or per company account and is usually billed once a year. Across the published prices in our comparison of compliance providers, membership runs $66 to $299 per driver per year, and the median for one driver is $160 a year. Tests are usually billed separately, per test.
- Membership: the pool, the selections, the C/TPA designation and the program records.
- Pre-employment drug test: required before your first safety-sensitive work as your own carrier (382.301).
- Random tests: paid each time you are selected.
- Post-accident, reasonable suspicion and return-to-duty tests: only if the event happens.
The consortium TenFour refers members to charges $99 a year for the whole account, however many drivers, paid by you directly to the consortium, never through TenFour and never marked up.
What to check before you join
- It is registered in the Clearinghouse as a C/TPA. You can designate only a C/TPA that has registered there.
- It will do the owner-operator reporting. Confirm in writing that it reports for owner-operators under 382.705(b)(6), and whether it will run your queries too.
- There is a collection site you can reach. Selection means going immediately, so check the sites near where you actually run, not only near home.
- Every price is written down: membership per driver or per account, each test type, and whether the medical review officer's review is included.
- You get the records an auditor asks for: an enrollment certificate, policy materials for 382.601, and a record of every selection and result.
- You know how a selection reaches you, by text, call or email, and what happens when you are on the road far from a site.
Setting it up in the right order
- Enroll with the consortium and sign its agreement.
- Take the pre-employment drug test and have the verified negative result before you drive (382.301). The exception in 382.301(b) covers only a driver who was in a compliant program within the previous 30 days and meets its other conditions; most new authorities simply take the test.
- Register in the Clearinghouse and designate the consortium as your C/TPA.
- Run the pre-employment full query on yourself.
- Keep the enrollment certificate, the policy receipt and the results with your drug and alcohol records, in a secure place apart from your driver qualification file (382.401).
How TenFour handles the program
TenFour does not run a testing pool or sell consortium membership. We tell you which consortium to join and with whom to file, complete the enrollment for you, walk you through naming it as your C/TPA in your own Clearinghouse account, prepare the written policy, and keep every selection and result filed. You pay the consortium's fee and each test directly to the provider. It is part of the membership, set out on the DOT drug and alcohol program page; for the rest of what one truck under your own authority owes, see owner-operator compliance, handled.