MC authority is four filings, not one
An interstate MC number is held alive by four separate filings, each on its own cycle, each administered by FMCSA (or, in the case of the surety bond, by the surety provider with FMCSA as the receiver of proof). Most owner-operators learn this only after one of the four lapses.
Mileafi tracks all four on a single deadline board — and the board orders them by which surface catches a lapse (scale, roadside, billing) rather than by which is most important to FMCSA, because the docket is not where the consequence arrives.
MCS-150 — biennial update
The MCS-150 is the biennial motor-carrier identification update. Every odd-numbered year (or every two years on FMCSA's published schedule), the carrier re-confirms USDOT-level data: power units, drivers, address, operation classification. Missing the MCS-150 runs a deactivation cascade that hits the USDOT before the MC, and triggers an MCS-150 reinstatement fee.
Cadence: biennial. Surface if missed: USDOT inactive on SAFER.
Form BMC-84 — $75K surety bond
Property-carrying brokers post a $75,000 bond on Form BMC-84. Passenger-carrying brokers post $10,000 on BMC-85. The bond is per broker authority — not per truck — and runs on the surety provider's cycle, not FMCSA's.
The most common path to a lapsed MC: the bond provider sends a renewal notice to an address the carrier has moved away from. FMCSA is notified within days, the docket flips to inactive, and there is no separate carrier-side reminder.
Cadence: bond provider anniversary. Surface if missed: MC inactive on SAFER.
Form BOC-3 — process agent
Form BOC-3 names a process agent in each state the carrier operates in. The agent accepts legal service on the carrier's behalf. If the agent changes address, closes, or stops accepting service, FMCSA does not chase this — roadside inspection does. A BOC-3 gone stale is an out-of-service order at the scale.
Cadence: until the agent changes. Surface if missed: scale / roadside inspection.
Unified Carrier Registration (UCR)
UCR is paid every two years; due December 31 of every even-numbered year. The fee scales with fleet size and the states the carrier operates in. Late payment stacks a per-state assessment on top of the registration fee. The fee is not the cost — the assessment is.
Cadence: biennial (Dec 31, even years). Surface if missed: state assessment, then late UCR fine.
The order the four actually fail in
In our experience the failure order is: bond (because it runs on the surety's cycle), UCR (because it is biennial and carriers set the reminder on the off-year), BOC-3 (because FMCSA does not chase it), MCS-150 (because the deactivation cascade is the catch surface, not a personal reminder).
Mileafi's broker authority track mirrors that order — bond and UCR alert first, BOC-3 second, MCS-150 third. The exact dates depend on when each of the four was last seeded; once your MC number and bond tier are in, the cycle board lays itself out.