At the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) Annual conference in Nashville, Tomes explained what went wrong with MNLARS, what did actually go right and the logic behind the decision to go with a vendor-built system.
When MNLARS launched, Tomes said, one of the major issues was that tax dollars had been spent on a system that was incomplete. However, the state then rolled out 11 updates to MNLARS to make it more functional.
“We’ve really reduced the amount of issues, and citizens of Minnesota are able to transact with the driver vehicle system quite successfully,” he said.
But it wasn’t enough. Following an independent review comparing the costs and benefits of trying to repair MNLARS, Minnesota found that while the system had indeed improved, as Tomes described, scrapping it in favor of a five-year contract with FAST, which has similar contracts with 10 other states, was the smarter bet.
Tomes explained the benefits that come from opting for a proven solution as well as joining an “ecosystem” of states where all can learn from each other and ultimately improve services for residents.
