2024 Winners

International and Region 1

New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission

NJMVC Partnership with Fairleigh Dickinson University

There are lots of reasons adults young and older either don’t go to college or are unable to complete their degrees once they have begun taking classes. For employees of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, those impediments have now been largely swept aside thanks to a partnership between the NJMVC and Fairleigh Dickinson University of Madison, NJ. Under the partnership initiated by the NJMVC, Commission employees can now enroll in college courses toward an undergraduate or graduate degree free of charge under a program where the Commission reimburses the university. The program was initially begun in 2019, but was unfortunately forced to pause in early 2020 after the global COVID-19 pandemic hit. The program was successfully relaunched in August 2023. The cost to the 125 MVC employee-students enrolled in a class is just $36 total each, which covers an FDU technology fee. The Commission pays the $1,600 course fee for students who maintain a C average in undergraduate classes or a B average in a graduate program. Family life is even accounted for, as classes are held during lunch hour in person once a week in the NJMVC's Trenton headquarters or virtually for those in other MVC work units, such as our agencies. Fairleigh Dickinson University is the largest private university in New Jersey, with more than 11,500 students from 32 states and 72 countries enrolled on the University’s two campuses in northern New Jersey and its international campuses in Wroxton, England and Vancouver, Canada.  

Region 2

Service Oklahoma

Licensed Operator Advisory Committee Partnership

The State of Oklahoma is unique in that it permits third parties called licensed operators the ability to offer services otherwise provided by Service Oklahoma. Beginning in January 2023, Service Oklahoma became the governing body of the state’s licensed operators, formerly tag agents. This collaboration between government and private sector businesses provides Oklahomans with access to driver license and motor vehicle services in all 77 counties. The relationship between licensed operators and their previous agency partners was combative. Licensed operators had been frustrated for years with a lack of cooperation and communication. This feedback was taken seriously, and the Licensed Operator Advisory Committee was formed in 2022. The committee is a statutorily created seven-member advisory body comprised of licensed operators of varying sizes throughout the state, as well as a senior member of the Service Oklahoma leadership team. In the year since its inception, this committee has been instrumental in building a true partnership between the agency and licensed operators, a partnership in which government, private business, and the public win by helping foster better communication between the agency and all 240+ licensed operators; aiding with the communications and training strategies for several key projects including the application of a legislative fee bill and the expansion of driver license services; and helped expand driver services to citizens. The Licensed Operator Advisory Committee is vital in bridging gaps in services as needed and providing a model for public and private partnership in the state.

Region 3

Iowa Department of Transportation, Motor Vehicle Division

Iowa Electronic Registration and Title Expansion Partnership

The Iowa Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) worked with a range of partners to deploy the final major component of its Electronic Registration and Title (ERT) submission system. ERT allows licensed Iowa vehicle dealers to electronically submit scanned title and registration applications on behalf of customers directly to the appropriate county treasurer for processing. Electronic submission eliminates paper handling and delivery or mailing, a benefit to dealers and treasurers. ERT allows the dealer to input transaction information which is then provided to the county, eliminating the need for the county to key in most data. The system allows comments to be submitted back-and-forth from dealer to county, thus making the transaction run more smoothly with fewer errors. Prior to 2023, MVD had deployed ERT over several years but only for sale of brand-new vehicles. In 2023, MVD worked with partners to expand this to used vehicles. As a result, ERT usage increased from an average of 3,235 deals per month in 2022 to 12,750 a month from May through October in 2023. In October 2023, ERT transactions represented nearly 19% of all title applications in Iowa. The expanded ERT program is successful because of the close partnership between the Iowa DOT, the 99 county treasurers who issue title and registration products in Iowa, and two industry associations: Iowa Auto Dealer Association and Iowa Independent Auto Dealer Association, along with a dealer service provider. The group collaboratively developed programming requirements, developed business case scenarios, conducted testing, jointly addressed trouble shooting, and maintained consistent communication. These partners all contributed to a successful deployment.

Region 4

California Department of Motor Vehicles

CA DMV Wallet - Mobile Driver's License

With increasing demand for digital and online services, there is an equally important need to reduce the cost of identity and age verification and related fraud opportunities, by the government and commercial service providers. There is a need to create a product and a service that is easy to use by the residents and economical to consume by the public and private industry service providers, online and in person. A mobile credential on a mobile wallet addresses this need with a voluntary, secure digital version of a physical identification card. While there are many mobile wallets and digital credentials in the marketplace, this product, intended to be open sourced to share all the benefits and effort with the global community, provides unique value proposition to all the citizens of the world. California created an open-source wallet (for transparency) that supports multiple open standards from ISO, W3C, OIDF and NIST enable platforms. It uses AI and machine learning to validate the identity of the user prior to issuing the digital credential with a high assurance level. With a focus on benefitting public services, California is working with law enforcement agencies and public entities to enable the use of the digital credential to replace identity verification steps for remote identity proofing. California is also working with POS marketplace to enable the readers to access the credentials for in-person use cases and with the financial industry for online use cases. The differentiator for this product line hinges on the ability to support multiple standards and thus enabling the marketplace much more rapidly.