The production backlog that caused people to wait weeks to receive their driver’s licenses in the mail this spring has been cut in half and should be cleared by the end of the month, according to the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles.
Since February, people have waited eight weeks for their driver’s license or ID to arrive in the mail. The DMV issues about 10,000 temporary new licenses and identification cards every day, and at its peak the backlog of permanent cards to customers was nearly 355,000, says DMV Commissioner Wayne Goodwin.
Goodwin told state lawmakers Thursday that the number has been reduced to less than 150,000 and should be zero by June 30.
The reason why the backlog has become so large remains unclear, even after a hearing on Thursday. The House Oversight and Reform Committee invited representatives from the DMV and IDEMIA, the company that makes the cards, to try to explain how a relatively minor computer problem spiraled out of control in February.
The agency and IDEMIA agree that the mess stemmed from a software glitch at DMV that accidentally allowed 2,136 people across the state to obtain an online license when they were legally required to visit a DMV office in person. The problem occurred over a four-day period, from 6:45 PM on February 15 to 5:45 PM on February 19.
To prevent these 2,136 licenses from being issued, the DMV asked IDEMIA to stop producing North Carolina cards at its facility in Sacramento, California.
IDEMIA proposed identifying and revoking the problem licenses electronically, but was told by the DMV that it would have to be done manually, Lisa Shoemaker, vice president for global corporate relations, told lawmakers Thursday.
“Our team tried multiple times to provide North Carolina with the most efficient solution for this,” Shoemaker said, “and we were forced to implement a manual process.”
The company halted production for ten days and resumed it on March 4. Under normal circumstances, this would have resulted in a backlog of approximately 100,000 cards.
Somehow, Goodwin said, the company continued to fall behind.
“What had been a few days’ hiatus that turned into a twelve-day backlog inexplicably continued to grow with the business week after week until, to the frustration of our customers and our own, it took over seven days and ultimately closed. up to eight weeks before customers receive their cards,” he told lawmakers.
What turned the tide, Goodwin said, was the company’s offer to start production at a second factory, which began May 13. IDEMIA would be fully caught up by the time its role in creating driver’s licenses and ID cards for the state ends on June 30.
The DMV chose another contractor, CBN Secure Technologies Inc., to create the credentials, and those new cards are being phased in this month. By July, DMV customers should receive their cards in the mail within 10 business days of issuance, Goodwin said.
The CBN contract is another point of friction between the DMV and IDEMIA. The agency chose the new company without going through a competitive bidding process, and IDEMIA filed a lawsuit claiming the contract is illegal. The DMV says an exception in state law allowed it to switch card providers without going through an open process.
At the start of Thursday’s hearing, Rep. Harry Warren, a Rowan County Republican who helps lead the commission, said new voter identification requirements make the need for timely and reliable license and ID cards more important than ever.
“It makes us need assurances from DMV that there will be no more problems between now and November,” Warren said. “It is imperative that the department and its suppliers perform exceptionally well as the need for acceptable forms of identification is critical to the upcoming elections.”
Under the dome
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