In 2021, the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) launched solicitations for its Digital eXperience Platform (DXP) project — and at the start of 2022, DXP Phase 1 is in the build stage and an RFP for DXP Phase 2 is accepting applications.

Stated simply, the DXP project is an IT modernization and business transformation initiative that will replace DMV core technologies and re-engineer business processes and channels using the cloud and automation, says DMV Chief Digital Transformation Officer Ajay Gupta.

The DXP Project has three phases. Phase 1 is focused on occupational licensing, Phase 2 on vehicle registration and Phase 3 on driver licensing.

Once the entire project is complete, the DMV “expects to provide world class self-service channels, faster in person and mail-in service fulfillment to our customers, and a digital platform in our back office with improved employee experience,” Gupta said, adding that the department also expects to reduce operating costs through reduction in IT infrastructure, and less paper and fewer manual processes with the use of new technologies and processes.

DXP Phase 1: Occupational Licensing

The DMV’s Occupational Licensing branch licenses and monitors motor vehicle-related businesses and individuals in the state, which is no small feat given the more than 31 million vehicles and 24 million licensed drivers on California roads. The Occupational Licensing branch regulates vehicle manufacturing and sales, driver training, vehicle registration, to name a few.

Salesforce was selected as the software-as-a-service (SaaS) and Deloitte as the systems integrator to configure the platform for DMV needs. Together, Salesforce and Deloitte will modernize the DMV’s Occupational Licensing systems, processes and services, which Gupta said serve car manufacturers, distributors, dealers, sales personnel and traffic schools. According to the DMV’s City Innovate solicitation, the project includes the following:

• Internal and external interfaces, reporting, data access capabilities, as needed;
• A centralized database;
• Secure storage at a centralized location with a backup at a separate site;
• Secure storage and transmission of data and secure, robust audit and tracking capabilities at the individual user level;
• Compatibility with state, federal and DMV architecture standards; and
• Ability to integrate with Amazon Web Services, DocuSign, and customer text and chat services.

The two vendors also must provision for ongoing system support throughout the life of the contract, which Gupta said lasts close to two years — the first year for implementation releases and a second year for Phase 1 maintenance and operations.

Gupta said he expects the Phase 1 solution to go live in late summer 2022.

DXP Phase 2: Vehicle Registration

The DMV is now looking for a system integrator to modernize Vehicle Registration business processes, systems and service delivery; the department released the RFP on Dec. 1, 2021, and vendors have until June 1, 2022, to respond.

According to the RFP, the successful bidder for Phase 2 will build upon and expand the Occupational Licensing modernization to deliver a single Occupational Licensing and Vehicle Registration solution — and replace the legacy Control Cashiering functions and services.

“The solutions technology platform will leverage industry best practices to deliver intuitive and customer centric services. It will leverage key architectural attributes such as flexibility, usability, scalability, supportability, workflow configurability, and security in order to support changing business and customer needs,” the RFP states. “It will provide an overarching business process model designed to deliver a seamless customer journey.”

Due to COVID-related extension requests from the vendors, the vendor selection likely will occur by the end of June 2022, Gupta said, and the Phase 2 build will begin right after vendor selection.

DXP Phase 3: Driver Licensing

On the horizon is Phase 3, which will focus on modernizing the Driver Licensing business processes, systems and service delivery.

Gupta said vendors can anticipate an RFP release date of late spring or early summer of 2022 for Phase 3, the procurement process for which is likely to be completed by end of 2022 with build work beginning in 2023.

Once the entire DXP project is complete, Gupta said the DMV expects not only to attract IT talent with use of the latest state of the art technology platforms, but also to compete with the best of the retail sector as far as customer experience and service fulfillment.

“DMV expects an integrated, omni-channel approach to fulfilling our customer journeys,” he said, adding that these channels will be augmented with new automated self-service options, reduced processing times and lower transaction costs to the DMV. “DMV hopes that the new DXP further enables the state in serving our customers amidst the changing customer service landscape driven by technology innovations and pandemics.”