DMV stops IT system work

DMV has stopped work on the top-to-bottom revamp of its customer service computer systems and is backing out of the contract for the work.

The agency is suspending the IT project for six months or more.

After five years of work, the agency has spent $23.7 million on the estimated $69.9 million systems redesign, called the CSI project.

"The engagement is over" with the CSI contractor, consulting giant Accenture, said DMV spokeswoman Pam Goheen.

The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles is evaluating the project to determine what steps to take. DMV said the project's suspension should not increase its cost.

The agency halted the CSI project May 17, six months after DMV Commissioner Richard D. Holcomb signed the contract with Accenture to design and put in place the new system.

"We are in discussion with the (Virginia) DMV to unwind the contract," Accenture spokesman James E. McAvoy said.

According to McAvoy, "there are no penalties being discussed for either the commonwealth or Accenture."

Begun in 2006, the proposed integrated customer service computer system is supposed to ready in 2013. Despite the interruption, DMV expects the project to be completed on time and within budget.

"CSI" stands for the proposed system's characteristics: customer-centric; service-oriented, state-of-the-art and secure; and intelligent.

DMV, not the Virginia Information Technologies Agency, is running the CSI project. DMV's CSI project manager has been transferred to other projects, the agency said.

DMV's difficulty with the project echoes the state's massive, problem-plagued information-technology contract with Northrop Grumman.

VITA hired Northrop Grumman to modernize the state's computer system over 13 years for $2.5 billion. It was the state's biggest privatization deal when it was signed in 2005. It has since grown despite delays, system failures and leadership clashes.

DMV fell out with Accenture over how much of the CSI project work would be done on-site, the state agency said.

Accenture wanted to do 75 percent of the work on-site and 25 percent from its global delivery network, DMV spokeswoman Melanie Stokes said. "DMV wants the system built 100 percent side by side with DMV staff," she said.

"Building the system side by side with a vendor would allow us to know the system inside and out," Stokes said, and DMV "wouldn't have to rely on a vendor in the future for support."

Accenture did not comment on DMV's view of how the project should be staffed.

Formerly Andersen Consulting, Accenture is a $21.6 billion global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company.

"The timing of the suspension is good because we're just about to begin the detailed design activities," Stokes said. "We feel like we've got a good foundation for our system."

DMV is paying for the CSI system from its internal operating budget.

"Each step in the project has been deliberate to make sure the project stayed within scope and budget," DMV's Goheen said, "and it has."

DMV said that as a result of the project, it has made 38 process improvements that, through February 2010, saved $107,305 and increased revenue by $486,501, and has made "numerous improvements and efficiencies in service."

DMV operates a hodgepodge of more than a dozen information-technology systems, some more than 20 years old, to process transactions and maintain customer records. These systems cannot always work together.

DMV envisions that the proposed CSI system would provide a "360-degree view" of the people and businesses it deals with, allowing employees to identify customer needs and handle them at the same time.

The system also would let people do business with the agency using multiple access channels regardless of how many DMV areas need to be involved in the transactions.

"The CSI system will allow DMV to conduct business transactions in the easiest, most efficient and most secure manner possible," Dave Burhop, the agency's chief information officer, wrote on the project website.

Accenture intended to base its CSI version on Oracle's Siebel Customer Relationship Management software package and other off-the-shelf products.

DMV annually issues more than 1.7 million driver's licenses, registers more than 6 million vehicles, weighs about 16.5 million trucks and collects more than $2 billion in revenue for the state.

The agency has an annual operating budget of $198.5 million and nearly 1,800 full-time employees.

pbacque@timesdispatch.com

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