Providence, R.I. – Governor Lincoln D. Chafee announced today that the Rhode Island Department of Administration's Office of Regulatory Reform (ORR) and Office of Digital Excellence (ODE) have selected 10 municipalities to pilot a new statewide e-permitting initiative. It will modernize state and local permitting systems through a customer-friendly, online permitting portal, which will be accessed through municipal websites. The selected pilot communities include:
Cranston, Pawtucket, Newport, Warwick, North Kingstown, West Warwick, North Providence, Westerly, North Smithfield, Woonsocket
Some 26 of the 39 cities and towns submitted an application for the pilot. A rigorous selection process was deployed to assess community readiness to streamline permitting processes.
"Municipalities are confronted with overextended staff and increased pressure to improve the customer service," Governor Chafee said. "Electronic permitting provides Rhode Island with the tools needed to automate and streamline processes. I applaud the DOA and Digital Excellence for tackling such a technical and far-reaching project."
"The goal is to make government more efficient and reduce permitting time, all while improving customer service," Director of Administration Steven T. Hartford said. "I would like to thank the staff in the Office of Management and Budget, Office of Regulatory Reform, Office of Digital Excellence, and the Office of the State Building Code Commissioner for their efforts to modernize permitting systems."
"We were looking for communities that expressed a willingness to decrease complexity to expedite transactions for developers and property owners," Thom Guertin, Rhode Island's Chief Digital Officer, said. "To highlight the versatility of this new system, we sought to include communities representing a cross-section of complexity, land-use types, and permit volumes."
The team evaluated all applicants against specific criteria, including: community preparedness, municipal ability to support the project, system integration, payment processing capabilities, available resources, and maturity of Geographic Information System (GIS) platforms. Moreover, the selected communities all demonstrated a strong desire to simplify processes.
The state's plan is to deploy the new e-permitting software in two phases:
Phase One – will include the 10 pilot municipalities, as well as the office of the State Fire Marshal and State Building Code Commissioner. This phase will conclude with a live launch of the online software, slated for September 2015. Phase One will focus primarily on the trades permits (e.g. building, fire, electrical, mechanical, plumbing), with the goal of streamlining the permitting process across communities.
Phase Two – will include additional municipalities and permit types with an opportunity for state-wide implementation.
Governor Chafee's FY 2013 through FY 2015 budgets include $900,000 in general revenue to fund an e-permitting technology provider. These funds are dedicated to Phase One of the pilot program.
For more information, contact Allison Rogers at 401-222-2280 or allison.rogers@doa.ri.gov.