Carrier Assure CEO Releases 54-Page Vetting Standard After Montgomery

Carrier Assure founder Cassandra Gaines released a 54-page carrier-selection framework June 18, 2026, designed to help brokers, shippers, and freight forwarders document defensible vetting decisions. The CAVRA Standard (Carrier Assessment, Verification, Risk, and Accountability) is publicly available at no cost.

Gaines unveiled the document during a webinar attended by more than 800 transportation professionals. She said the framework responds to uncertainty following the Supreme Court's Montgomery ruling, which exposed brokers to crash liability nationwide.

What does the CAVRA Standard require beyond authority and insurance?

The framework establishes nine core principles for carrier vetting. Minimum requirements include authority-history checks, insurance verification, safety-rating review, roadside-inspection history, fraud-indicator screening, identity verification, double-brokering controls, shipment-suitability assessment, and operational red-flag monitoring.

Gaines wrote that modern carrier vetting cannot stop at confirming operating authority and insurance coverage. The standard calls for continuous monitoring, documentation of exceptions, and escalation procedures when carriers present elevated risks.

"The question is not whether every decision was perfect," Gaines wrote in the framework. "The question is whether the decision was reasonable based on the information available at the time."

The document includes an example carrier-vetting policy that companies can adapt to their own operations. Gaines stresses that organizations should review any policy with legal counsel and tailor it to their specific risk profiles and freight networks.

Why did Gaines release the standard for free?

Gaines said she intentionally made the framework publicly available rather than positioning it as a proprietary product. A transportation attorney, expert witness, and risk-management adviser, Gaines said her experience working with brokers, carriers, shippers, insurers, and law firms convinced her that the industry needed a shared resource for carrier selection.

"I don't believe that a good transportation provider should be in the dark on how to select a motor carrier in a defensible and reasonable manner," Gaines said. "An industry standard shouldn't belong to a big association or shouldn't belong to the carriers or the brokers or the plaintiff attorneys or defense attorneys."

The framework emphasizes that companies should focus on making reasonable, well-documented decisions based on the information available at the time. Gaines said carrier vetting should be viewed as a risk-management exercise rather than a search for perfection.

What operational risks does the standard address?

The release comes as transportation companies face increasing challenges from cargo theft, fraud, double brokering, and litigation involving motor carrier selection. The framework repeatedly emphasizes documentation of carrier-selection decisions and maintenance of written carrier-vetting policies.

"Since the Supreme Court ruling on the Montgomery case, the industry has been stressed out," Gaines said in a LinkedIn post. "They all want to know what is a reasonable, defensible standard for selecting a motor carrier."

The CAVRA Standard is intended to serve as a practical benchmark rather than a rigid checklist. Gaines describes it as a framework that transportation companies can use to compare against existing carrier-vetting programs or as a foundation for creating their own policies.

"The goal is not perfection," Gaines said. "The goal is a reasonable, risk-based, defensible carrier-selection process."

What this means for small fleets and owner-operators

Brokers using the CAVRA Standard will likely tighten carrier onboarding. Small fleets and owner-operators should expect requests for more documentation during the vetting process, including roadside-inspection history, safety data beyond the SMS percentile, and identity verification beyond MC number confirmation.

Fleets with clean safety records, established authority history, and transparent operations will clear the new vetting hurdles faster. Carriers with recent authority, thin inspection history, or gaps in documentation may face longer onboarding timelines or rejection from brokers adopting the framework.

Gaines said the ultimate objective of the CAVRA Standard is to bring greater clarity, consistency, transparency, and confidence to carrier-selection decisions across the transportation industry. "Good brokers deserve a clear standard," Gaines said.

The 54-page guide is available for download at no cost. Brokers and shippers can adapt the example policy to their own freight networks, though Gaines recommends legal review before implementation.