State to hold license vendor ‘accountable’ after outages
Oklahoma will re-examine its contract with the vendor that manages the state’s driver license system after back-to-back outages frustrated customers.
Department of Public Safety Commissioner Rusty Rhoades said the first problems about a week ago happened when storms caused a power outage while Idemia Identity and Security USA, the company that manages driver license systems, began daily server maintenance.
Then on Tuesday morning, the service failed again when Idemia tried to restore the system to a primary server, he said.
All services are functioning properly now, but Rhoades said he would be speaking to corporate executives about the problems, and also to his department’s attorneys to see if the state has any recourse.
Government contracts typically include a section allowing for financial reimbursement or cancellation in
the event that the vendor cannot perform its tasks to a certain level.
“The people of Oklahoma deserve better. The Department of Public Safety deserves better,” Rhoades said Tuesday. “I’m not going to sit back and continue to accept these shortcomings from the vendor.”
He said Oklahoma has enjoyed a good and lengthy relationship with Idemia. It has been providing driver license services since the state moved a digital system in 2003.
The state pays Idemia almost $3 for each driver license or identity card issued. For the year ending in June 2017, the company was paid $3.3 million.
Oklahoma is in the middle of updating its IT infrastructure, something Rhoades said is sorely needed as the Department of Public Safety converts to issuing REAL ID. That changeover is not related to the recent outages, however.
REAL ID will let Oklahoma comply with federal regulations on driver license and identification card security features — and ultimately allow residents to visit federal sites and fly commercially without using a passport or other federal document.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has given the state time to implement REAL ID. Gov. Mary Fallin announced Tuesday she has asked the federal agency for another extension through October 2019.
“Without an extension, the state will suffer adverse economic consequences and jeopardize the regular daily activities of many of our citizens,” Fallin wrote in a letter to DHS. “Oklahoma is actively working towards compliance, but will need additional time to complete the implementation of the new system.”