# How does the initiating official start a PIE proceeding?

- **operation:** document
- **citation:** 49 CFR 40.375
- **title:** How does the initiating official start a PIE proceeding?
- **source type:** regulation
- **agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
- **status:** current
- **official:** true
- **published on:** Not available
- **effective on:** 2026-08-18
- **summary:** (a) As a service agent, if your compliance matter is not correctable (see § 40.373(a)), or if have not resolved compliance matters as provided in § 40.373(c), the initiating official starts a PIE proceeding by sending you a notice of proposed exclusion (NOPE). The NOPE contains the initiating offici
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- **source url:** https://www.ecfr.gov/on/2026-08-18/title-49/section-40.375
**body:**

(a) As a service agent, if your compliance matter is not correctable (see § 40.373(a)), or if have not resolved compliance matters as provided in § 40.373(c), the initiating official starts a PIE proceeding by sending you a notice of proposed exclusion (NOPE). The NOPE contains the initiating official's recommendations concerning the issuance of a PIE, but it is not a decision by the Department to issue a PIE.

(b) The NOPE includes the following information:

(1) A statement that the initiating official is recommending that the Department issue a PIE concerning you;

(2) The factual basis for the initiating official's belief that you are not providing drug and/or alcohol testing services to DOT-regulated employers consistent with the requirements of this part or are in serious noncompliance with a DOT agency drug and alcohol regulation;

(3) The factual basis for the initiating official's belief that your noncompliance has not been or cannot be corrected;

(4) The initiating official's recommendation for the scope of the PIE;

(5) The initiating official's recommendation for the duration of the PIE; and

(6) A statement that you may contest the issuance of the proposed PIE, as provided in § 40.379.

(c) The initiating official sends a copy of the NOPE to the ODAPC Director at the same time he or she sends the NOPE to you.
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