Many long-awaited technological improvements to the Department of Motor Vehicles either haven’t happened yet or are works in progress, but as the new DMV Strike Team Final Report reveals, officials have already made significant progress and awarded contracts that are key to the agency’s modernization.
The report, released Tuesday by the Government Operations Agency (GovOps), is informative not just for what it reveals about those contracts — to update everything from DMV’s front-end system and website to its marketing strategy — and work on enabling credit card payment and slashing wait times, but also for what it says about the Strike Team itself. The team consisted of 13 GovOps officials including Secretary Marybel Batjer, who joined Gov. Gavin Newsom at a press conference Tuesday announcing the report’s release; Angelica Quirarte, GovOps assistant secretary for digital engagement; and Stuart Drown, GovOps deputy secretary for innovation and accountability. GovOps also worked with 11 DMV officials, 13 other named officials across four agencies including the California Department of Technology; and 16 other state departments. Among the takeaways:
• Three “concept sprints” guided by consultants McKinsey & Co., engaged to probe processing and issues surrounding Real ID, yielded solutions concepts that were transformed into deployable prototypes. The creations included a digital Real ID decision tree for DMV’s website and for field office employees using tablets, to help customers decide whether or not they need Real ID. (Real ID is federally mandated for residents to fly domestically without a passport after Oct. 1, 2020.) Solutions also included a Real ID rapid reference guide that aggregated more than 25 policy memos; a digital tool to answer inquiries; and an “analytical customer demand projection model” to let DMV strategically serve the highest priority customers first, and better position kiosks and pop-ups. The sprints also yielded process improvements to cut the time needed for field office employees to authenticate Real ID documents.
In coaching and on-boarding DMV employees to these “concept prototypes,” the Strike Team said DMV is “building a culture of agility to rapidly conceptualize, analyze, prototype and test the impact of solutions that can make a difference for customers.”
• Two contract awards, on June 24 to IBM; and on June 25 to CGI, will enable “much needed stabilization efforts,” characterized as foundational to DMV hardware and software updates; to streamlining operations needed for stabilization during an outage; and to the roll-out of monitoring tools to manage critical systems and reduce the risk of field office systems outages. The agency has also added an IT special consultant to look at DMV systems and modernize where possible.
• A contract awarded July 8 to Ohio-based electronic payment solution company First Data Government Solutions will enable field offices to take credit card payments — after “it became clear that the barriers perceived to be in place no longer existed.” The Davis field office will be the first to pilot credit card payments, in September, followed by offices in Fresno, Roseville and Victorville in October. The full rollout to 172 field offices could take a year or more.
• DMV awarded a contract June 14 to website and Web tool provider 10Up, which has global offices and locations in San Francisco and Los Angeles, for a “complete overhaul” of its website. “This will start with a Real ID microsite that will launch in mid-August 2019,” the Strike Team said in its report. A new content management system, a new look and feel for the website based on user feedback and state templates; and a refresh of how relevant content gets added to the website will be part of its redesign.
• A contract with RSE, awarded June 19, is aimed at creating a “large-scale public relations campaign focused on Real ID” — using Strike Team data to create marketing materials for specific groups “based on whether or not they need a Real ID before the deadline.”
“RSE will develop new messaging and materials in order to educate Californians about a Real ID and the alternative, a federally non-compliant card,” the team said.
• DMV deployed a one-day, pop-up field office in May at Health Net in Rancho Cordova and issued 74 Real IDs – such a success that the agency returned for two days in June and issued 188 more Real IDs. A third outing at Intel from July 16-18 was expected to issue “several hundred” more Real IDs, and more pop-ups are planned for “areas where the data shows there is a high demand in nearby DMV field offices.” The state committed $1.36 billion to DMV in the new 2019-2020 fiscal year budget, an increase of $242 million. Around $8.3 million of that will fund 200 new DMV Now self-serve kiosks around the state — 100 by the middle of August, and another 100 by year’s end. The Strike Team recommended increasing their usage “to move transactions out of the field offices.” The agency also plans to debut a chatbot on its website by year’s end — and implement Live Chat at its call center in early 2020, adding 89 positions to expand “call center usability.”
“What we really want to do is encourage people to only go to the DMV when they need to, and right now that’s because of the federally mandated Real ID. We encourage people, if you need a Real ID, go now. If you’re just getting a registration for your vehicle renewed, you can do it at a kiosk, you can do it at an AAA,” Batjer said on Tuesday, referring to the American Automobile Association.
