TELEMATICS - 4122

(Revised: 04/2021)

State agencies shall have telematics services installed, activated, and made operational on owned fleet mobile equipment and vehicles (fleet assets) in accordance with the following Phases:

Phase One

As of August 1, 2021, state agencies shall have telematics services installed, activated, and made operational on all owned light-duty fleet assets.

Phase Two

As of February 1, 2022, state agencies shall have telematics services installed, activated, and made operational on all owned assets in their fleet.

In order to ensure state agencies meet the phases noted above, fleet operating agencies shall develop and issue a telematics policy specific to their agency’s use of telematics and the associated data by March 31, 2021. These policies should be crafted in a way to ensure the employee safety benefits and cost savings potential of telematics services are realized. The policies shall, at minimum, address the following areas:

1. Department and program level oversight roles and responsibilities.
2. Driver responsibilities.
3. Safe vehicle operation, to include:
1. Excessive speeding.
2. Seat belt usage.
4.  Excessive Idling Reduction.

Telematics services must be purchased off of the state’s mandatory telematics service contract, must be activated within one week of installation, and must be maintained in an operational status for the lifecycle of the fleet asset, unless exempted by the Department of General Services (DGS), Office of Fleet and Asset Management (OFAM).

To be deemed operational, telematics services must remain active and must be able to produce the following data points for upload, either via a manual report download process or via Application Program Interface (API) from the state agency’s telematics software operating platform to the OFAM central fleet asset management database:

1. Number of days the fleet asset was used in a given month
2. Total miles/hours the fleet asset was operated in a given month

Additionally, state agencies shall have programmed the telematics services’ software operating platform to produce reports with the following information that will be made available to OFAM biannually (on January 1^st and July 1^st) or upon request. OFAM will provide these reports to the California Department of Finance on an annual basis, or upon request.

1. Fuel, including electricity and hydrogen, consumed over a specified period of time by a specific fleet asset or by a group of fleet assets.
2. Electric miles driven over a specified period of time by a specific plug-in electric fleet asset or by a group of plug-in electric fleet assets.

 State agencies shall ensure that the telematics services installed on a fleet asset are accurately programmed with that asset’s identifying information and report, either via manual report download or via API, accurate usage information to OFAM’s central fleet asset management database.

Exemptions to Telematics Installation Requirements

Standard Exemptions

Fleet assets that meet any of the following criteria will be exempt from this policy and will not be required to have telematics installed:

1. The fleet asset has non-exempt license plates, is used for undercover purposes, and the collection and transmission of data associated with this asset’s use may endanger the safety of the asset’s operator or the integrity of the undercover operation.
2. It is a non-self-propelled fleet asset and/or the asset is not required to be reported into the DGS fleet asset management system.
3. The fleet asset is not capable of having telematics installed or is unable to maintain telematics in an operational status as determined by OFAM.
4. The fleet asset is a motorcycle.
5. The fleet asset does not require usage reporting to OFAM.

Exemptions for Surplus Vehicles

Fleet assets that are scheduled to be exited from a state agency’s fleet within 12 months from the applicable installation date requirement may receive a temporary exemption from the installation requirement. State agencies requesting a temporary exemption shall provide OFAM with a list of all fleet assets that meet this criterion prior to the applicable required telematics installation date. All fleet assets provided on the list(s) shall be exited from the fleet or have had telematics services installed within 12 months from submission of the required telematics services installation date.

Exemptions for Cost-Effectiveness

Under very limited circumstances, a state agency may receive an exemption from the telematics requirement where the agency can show that the installation and use of telematics services on the vehicle would not provide any meaningful value to the department. State agencies must submit a comprehensive written justification, which must be accompanied by an analysis using quantifiable data, that clearly demonstrates that telematics services would not add value to the department. The analysis conducted must, at minimum, take into consideration the following criteria:

1. Potential Costs Savings of Telematics Services:
1. Hard Costs:
1. Fuel Reduction
2. Vehicle Maintenance Cost Reductions
3. SMOG Check Automation
4. Vehicle Replacement Avoidance
5. Stolen Vehicle Recovery
6. Vehicle Misuse Avoidance
2. Soft Costs:
1. Data Gathering Efficiencies (staff time)
2. Operational Efficiencies
3. Emergency Response Efficiencies

Designation of a vehicle as campus based alone is not a sufficient justification for submitting an exemption.

Exemptions for cost-effectiveness must be submitted to OFAM. OFAM will review the exemption request and submit a recommendation to DGS Interagency Support Division’s Deputy Director. The final approval or denial of a cost-effectiveness exemption request will be by the Interagency Support Division’s Deputy Director or their designee.

Definitions

Telematics Services: Telematics Services are comprised of both hardware and software solutions that gather and store geographic and on-board diagnostic information, such as current odometer, maintenance needs, and fuel consumption, from fleet assets and transmits that information to a centralized software platform.

Zero-emission Vehicles: A ZEV is a vehicle that emits no tailpipe pollutants from its onboard source of power.  ZEVs include pure zero-emission vehicles such as hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs), as well as transitional ZEVs such as, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). 

Light-duty Fleet Assets: Highway rated vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 8,500 pounds or less.

Non-Light-Duty Fleet Assets: Vehicles with GVWR of 8,500 pounds or more and assets designated as pieces of equipment.