Regulations.gov Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

On September 30, 2007, the Department of Transportation and the Department of Homeland Security's, United States Coast Guard and Transportation Safety Administration migrated to the Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) on the Regulations.gov web site. Prior to their migration to FDMS, these Agencies were serviced by DOT's Docket Management System (DMS). As a result of the migration to FDMS, some of the processes that were unique to DMS differ from how they will be performed in FDMS. Some of these changes are discussed below. These questions and instructions will be continuously updated. You are encouraged to check this section frequently for updates.

Will All Data Migrate from DMS to FDMS on October 1?

All dockets which are open for comment will be available in FDMS on October 1, 2007. All historical data will be transitioned into FDMS in the coming weeks. The transition is expected to be complete by October 31, 2007.

The current Docket Number in DMS will be the called the Docket ID in FDMS. The Docket ID consists of the following elements Agency-Year-Docket ID e.g. FAA-2007-0001. In FDMS, the Docket ID sequence will be reset every calendar Year e.g. FAA-2007-0001 and FAA-2008-0001.

In FDMS, all dockets which used to be under Office of Secretary (OST) in the Dockets Management System (DMS) will be migrated to “Department of Transportation”. Select “Department of Transportation (ALL)” will include dockets from all DOT modes including OST.

Will DMS Docket Numbers Change?

All DMS Docket numbers have been migrated to FDMS AS IS with some minor exceptions. To search for the dockets which existed in DMS, please enter the original docket number in the criteria field to lookup that docket.

The following chart shows a comparison of current Docket Numbers in DMS and Docket IDs in FDMS.

DMS Docket Number	FDMS Docket ID
OST-2000-58-1	DOT-OST-2000-58-1
OMCS-2007-586-9	FMCSA-OMCS-2007-586-9
RSPA-1998-369-65	PHMSA-RSPA-1998-369-65
BTS-1998-369-66	RITA-BTS-1998-369-66

How Do I File a Document without a Docket ID?

In DMS, Agencies were able to collect public requests such as Petitions, Applications, and corrections under the Data Quality Guidelines and they were also able to collect comments on their regulatory activities. These actions can still be performed in FDMS by electronically submitting to a pre-existed docket called a “Shell Docket”. Each Agency will be issued two Shell Dockets. One Shell Docket will be for Applications, Petitions, Exemptions (0001) and one Shell Docket will be for Data Quality (0002). See below for Shell Docket IDs.

You may either click on the link below for the Agency for which you want to enter the submission, or you can search for the Docket by going to “Search for Docket” on Regulations.gov. Once you have located the docket, go to the first document in the docket and click on the “Submit Comment” icon to file your submission. Once you have filed the submission, the DOT dockets staff will process and issue a new docket ID and post a notice back in the shell docket with the new Docket ID. Please check the shell docket to obtain the docket ID issued by the Docket Staff. To be notified of the new docket ID via email, please subscribe to the docket and an email notification will be sent to you.

All comments/submissions for existing applications/petitions/exemptions/waivers should be submitted to their original docket ID. Please search the docket ID using the Docket Search function in FDMS and file your comment/submission through the electronic submission process in FDMS.