Most travel programs vet a ground transportation supplier by collecting a certificate of insurance, a signed rate sheet, and a W-9 — then moving on. That instinct made sense when ground was a line item nobody looked at. It doesn’t survive contact with a serious incident.
A COI proves a policy existed on a date. It says nothing about whether the driver who picked up your executive was screened last month or last decade. Duty of care is the standard your program gets measured against after something goes wrong, and it is measured on records — not intentions, and not the supplier’s marketing.
Here’s what the standard actually asks of a ground operator, and what that means for the questions you send them.
What Duty of Care Actually Obligates
Strip away the conference-stage rhetoric and duty of care is a negligence concept. An operator owes passengers, the driving public, and their own employees a reasonable standard of care to prevent foreseeable harm. The test applied afterward is narrow: would a reasonable, similarly situated operator have foreseen this risk and taken steps to prevent it?
For the buyer, the same logic runs in your direction. Once you select and book a supplier on your travelers’ behalf, your selection process is part of the record. The question isn’t only whether the operator was careful — it’s whether you took reasonable steps to know.
That’s the thinking behind ISO 31030:2021, the travel risk management guidance most large programs now anchor to. It moves supplier safety from a procurement nicety to a documented part of the organization’s risk framework.
The Four Things That Make a Supplier Defensible
Tom Holden of Transportation Advisors — the DOT compliance firm currently auditing our own licensing and compliance posture — points to four disciplines that decide whether an operator can defend itself. They’re the four worth putting in your questionnaire.
1. Driver qualification and fitness. The driver is the single largest variable in passenger safety. A defensible program means screening before hire, a complete and current driver qualification file, and an active process — not a filing cabinet — for tracking license status, medical certification expiry, and hours of service.
2. A functioning drug and alcohol program. In the US, 49 CFR 382.701 requires a full FMCSA Clearinghouse query before employing a driver and at least one query per year after. Testing at the bare minimum, done inconsistently, is one of the fastest ways to fail a review after an incident.
3. Vehicle safety and maintenance. Passing inspection is not the same as being able to prove, on demand, that a specific vehicle was safe on a specific date. Ask how records are tied to individual vehicles, not to a pile of shop invoices.
4. Documentation and oversight. The pillar operators most often underweight. Doing the right thing and being able to prove it are two different disciplines. On paper, an operator with strong practices and weak documentation looks identical to an operator with no practices at all.
Why This Gets Harder Outside the US
Every specific above is a US frame. PSP reports, MVRs, the FMCSA Clearinghouse, and DOT audits don’t exist in Milan, Dubai, or São Paulo — and a questionnaire built on them either gets ignored or gets answered dishonestly by suppliers trying to be helpful.
The durable version of each question is the one that ports:
- Who verifies driver licensing and screening, on what cadence, under which local authority?
- What insurance is in force, at what limits, and who is named?
- Which airport permits does this operator actually hold in the markets you need?
- Can all of it be produced tomorrow — not next quarter?
That last one is the real test. Most suppliers can eventually assemble a file. The ones you want are the ones who already have.
Where GNet Connect Fits
GNet Connect is the network layer where this documentation lives. Operators maintain a verified professional profile — insurance, fleet detail, airport permits, service markets — and buyers, platforms, and affiliates check it instead of running an email chain per supplier per market.
- Search the network by city, airport, or coordinates
- Open an operator’s profile and review their documentation and fleet
- Compare operators in the same market against the same fields
- Contact the operator directly to complete your own vetting
GNet doesn’t create or sell the trip, and it doesn’t replace your due diligence. It removes the part of the work that is pure document-chasing, so the questions above get answered before a traveler is in a vehicle rather than after.
Coverage varies by market — the live network map at connect.grdd.net/map shows where operators are today.
Questions About Duty of Care in Ground Transportation
What does duty of care mean in ground transportation? It’s the legal obligation to take reasonable steps to prevent foreseeable harm to passengers, employees, and the public. For operators it’s judged on driver qualification, drug and alcohol programs, vehicle maintenance, and documentation. For buyers, it extends to how carefully you selected the supplier.
Is a certificate of insurance enough to vet a supplier? No. A COI confirms a policy was in force on a given date. It says nothing about driver screening, maintenance records, or whether the operator can produce either on request.
What standard do corporate travel programs use? ISO 31030:2021 is the international guidance for travel risk management, and it is increasingly referenced in ground transportation RFPs and supplier questionnaires.
How often must US operators check the FMCSA Clearinghouse? A full query before employing a driver in a safety-sensitive role, and at least one query per year thereafter. A limited annual query that returns a hit must be followed by a full query within 24 hours.
How do you vet suppliers in markets without a DOT equivalent? Ask the portable version of each question — who verifies licensing and screening, what insurance is in force at what limits, which airport permits are held — and require that documentation be produced on request rather than promised.
Ready to find and vet ground transportation suppliers?
GNet Connect gives buyers, platforms, and travel providers access to the largest ground transportation network in the world — approximately 6,000 operators across 80+ countries, with verified professional profiles you can check before you book.
Connect with Transportation Advisors https://connect.grdd.net/gnet/theadvisors