WASHINGTON A new audit of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrations Mexican border inspection program has turned up more problems in the agencys monitoring of bus safety.

The most recent report card was issued last month by the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General. It is the third such audit in the past five years of the FMCSA implementation of North American Free Trade Agreement cross-border commercial vehicle provisions.

The audits are required by the 2002 transportation appropriations legislation. In the latest follow-up audit released last month, the OIG said the agency had made progress, but it also identified two serious new problems.

"Despite the progress FMCSA has made, additional improvements are needed in two of the eight . . . criteria," said Madeline M. Chulumovich, director of Congressional and public affairs at the OIG.

"These involve improving the quality of the data used to monitor Mexican commercial driver traffic convictions in the United States, and ensuring adequate capacity to inspect Mexican buses. FMCSA concurred with our recommendations and proposed responsive corrective actions," said Chulumovich.

When OIG inspectors looked at cross-border bus inspection operations, they found facilities - specifically mentioning the bus inspection facility in Laredo, Texas - as being short on both physical facilities and inspectors.

The OIG directed FMCSA to provide adequate inspector coverage during holidays or other periods of peak bus traffic, and it said the FMCSA should talk to its own staff periodically to determine the effectiveness of the agencys bus inspection plan.

Each month, an average of 3,000 Mexican buses crosses the U.S.-Mexico border at Laredo, Texas, or roughly 100 daily. Even more cross during holiday periods.

As a result of space and manpower limits, the Mexican buses arent being adequately checked, especially during high-volume traffic periods, according to the audit report.

"This concern needs to be addressed to ensure that Mexican bus carriers granted long-haul authority are not able to avoid vehicle or license inspections during busy periods at this crossing," said the report.

OIG inspectors also discovered during their conversations with inspectors that the Laredo crossing doesnt even have a ramp so inspectors can check under coaches coming across the border.

In its response to the audit, the FMCSA said it will modify its Texas Commercial Bus Inspection Plan by the end of the year to address the audit concerns, and work with the Texas Department of Public Safety and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to assure adequate coverage of the Laredo border crossing.

The OIG pointed to another key area of concern: the adequacy of the FMCSA focus on Mexican carrier drug and alcohol testing issues.

And, in a parting shot, the audit questioned whether the FMCSA could live up to its assertion that "every truck that crosses the border as part of (a proposed pilot program) will be checked every truck, every time."

"Our observations at the Laredo crossing . . . confirmed the challenge FMCSA faces in screening (Mexican commercial vehicles)," the audit states.

"Specifically, we observed hundreds of vehicles entering the United States at the Laredo crossing each day. FMCSA inspectors selected vehicles for inspection from the line of trucks waiting to cross the border. However, once an inspector selected a vehicle and diverted it for an inspection, no FMCSA personnel remained at the screening point to monitor carrier traffic."