The production backlog that caused people to wait weeks before receiving driver’s licenses in the mail this spring has been cut in half and should be eliminated by the end of the month, according to the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles.
Since February, people have waited up to eight weeks for their license or state ID to arrive in the mail. The DMV issues about 10,000 temporary new licenses and ID cards each day, and at its peak the backlog of permanent cards delivered to customers neared 355,000, says DMV Commissioner Wayne Goodwin.
Goodwin told state lawmakers Thursday that the number has been cut to less than 150,000 and should reach zero by June 30.
The reason the backlog grew so large remains unclear, even after a legislative hearing on Thursday. The House Oversight and Reform Committee invited representatives of the DMV and IDEMIA, the company that makes the cards, to try to explain how a relatively small computer problem in February spiraled out of control.
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 get a license online when by law they needed to visit a DMV office in person. The problem occurred over a four-day period, from 6:45 p.m. on Feb. 15 through 5:45 p.m. on Feb. 19.
To prevent those 2,136 licenses from being issued, the DMV asked IDEMIA to stop producing North Carolina cards at its plant in Sacramento, California.
IDEMIA proposed to identify and pull the problem licenses electronically but was told by the DMV that it should be done manually, Lisa Shoemaker, vice president for global corporate relations, told lawmakers Thursday.
“Our team attempted on multiple occasions to provide North Carolina with the most efficient resolve for this,” Shoemaker said, “and we were forced to do a manual process.”
The company halted production for 10 days, resuming on March 4. Under normal circumstances, that would have created a backlog of about 100,000 cards.
Somehow, Goodwin said, the company continued to fall behind.
“What had been a stoppage of a few days that had turned into a 12-day backlog then inexplicably continued to grow week by week with the company until, to our customers’ and our own frustrations, it was taking upwards of 7 and ultimately close to 8 weeks for customers to receive their cards,” he told lawmakers.
What turned the tide, Goodwin said, was the company’s offer to begin production at a second plant, which began May 13. IDEMIA should be completely caught up by the time its role making driver licenses and ID cards for the state ends June 30.
The DMV chose another contractor, CBN Secure Technologies Inc., to make the credentials, and those new cards are being phased in this month. By July, DMV customers should be receiving their cards in the mail within 10 business days of when they were issued, 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 bid process, and IDEMIA has sued, saying the contract is illegal. The DMV says an exemption in state law allowed it to switch card contractors without going through an open process.
At the outset of Thursday’s hearing, Rep. Harry Warren, a Republican from Rowan County who helps lead the committee, said new voter identification requirements make the need for timely and reliable license and ID cards more important than ever.
“It leaves us in need of assurances from DMV that there will be no further snags between now and November,” Warren said. “It is imperative that the department and its vendors perform exceptionally well because the need for acceptable ID is critical for the upcoming elections.”
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