DMV Extends Weekend Hours; State Will Review Computer Problems

By Amber Lester Saturday, September 04, 2010

Backlogged with customers following a computer glitch early in the week, several Department of Motor Vehicles service centers will be open Sunday and Labor Day.

Gov. Bob McDonnell announced Thursday that 14 of the state’s DMV customer service centers will be open both days to help process the license applications that piled up this week as the state office recovered from computer problems. The only Hampton Roads location with extended hours this weekend is the Hampton office. Extended hours will also be in place the weekend of Sept. 11 and 12.

To help customers unable to renew their licenses this past week, the DMV has extended existing licenses for an additional 20 days. State and local law enforcement agencies have been notified of the extension.

All 74 DMV service centers were unable to process driver’s licenses and ID cards this week because of the computer problems. The DMV is encouraging customers to renew licenses through its website and its automated telephone system, available at 1-888-337-4782.

McDonnell also announced Thursday an independent review of the state’s hardware failure and subsequent data corruption will be conducted. The administration, together with the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC), will commission the independent review of the problems, which impacted 13 percent of the executive branch file servers and 26 of 89 executive branch agencies. The outside vendor for the review will be chosen and announced in weeks ahead, but McDonnell announced that Northrop Grumman will foot the bill for the review.

Northrop Grumman holds a $2.4 billion contract to manage the state’s computer network. In a statement, McDonnell said he spoke personally with Northrop Grumman CEO Wes Bush and made it clear that he expected “the best around-the-clock recovery efforts possible in order to reclaim and restore all missing files and data.”

“This recent computer failure is unacceptable,” McDonnell said Thursday. “I look forward to learning exactly how this occurred, how we can prevent such a disruption in the future, and how we can improve responsiveness and data reclamation if future interruptions occur.”