The California Department of Motor Vehicles, which onboarded a new director last year and submitted to a strike team’s scrutiny, was particularly busy in June as its ongoing technological modernization continued.
June was the month when DMV made four out of five of its most expensive IT services buys; the fifth of 67 that it made through July 31 happened in January. With one exception, all were fairly short-term contracts; and appear to be the types of pacts that directly connect to the agency’s continuing upgrades. Here’s more detail, with rounding, on what DMV committed to spend:
• $22.1 million to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) for AAMVA Access. The five-year contract began June 15, just two weeks before the end of the 2019-2020 fiscal year. A private nonprofit, AAMVA enables DMVs nationwide in areas including technology, investigation and information sharing.
• $3 million to Cambria Solutions Inc., for “consulting services for the virtual field office and robotic process automation.” The two-year contract began June 26. DMV teamed with Cambria, UiPath, and SimpliGov to automate its application process for motor carrier permit renewals, which went live in March, its Digital Transformation Officer Ajay Gupta told Techwire this spring.
• $2.8 million to Providence Technology Group for “Front End Sustainability Data Stabilization Consulting Services. The one-year contract began June 29.
• $2 million to Slalom LLC. A description indicates “(c)ontractor will enhance the Virtual Field Office (VFO) to allow customers to complete transactions online, without requiring an in-person visit to a field office.” Virtualizing services is a key way DMV is meeting the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic – which meant the agency had to shutter more than 170 field offices for a time this spring. The two-year contract began June 22.
• $1.8 million to Business Advantage Consulting Inc., for “test strategist and application testers for the DMV front-end sustainability project.” Testing, of course, can be vital when updating older systems, to determine how well changes and additions will play with existing hardware, software and interfaces. The two-year contract predates the pandemic’s rise by nearly two months; it began Jan. 21.
