Department of Revenue News Release

JEFFERSON CITY - The current agent for the Ava License Office has been awarded the contract to manage the office for up to four more years.  The winning proposal was chosen as part of a reformed, competitive bidding process for all of Missouri's local license offices.

Alternative Opportunities Inc. of Springfield will remain the agent for the Ava office.  It won the initial bid for the office this past fall and has been operating the office since Oct. 8.  The winning bid was one of two submitted for the office, which is located at 304 Northwest 12^th Ave.  The contract with the state is good for one year, and the state has the right to renew the contract for three additional one-year periods.

The Ava office is one of 10 offices initially awarded in 2009, but the Missouri Department of Revenue requested that the office management contracts be re-bid because of incomplete information provided by the winning bidder during the first round of bidding.  According to figures from Fiscal Year 2009, there were an estimated 23,690 transactions conducted at the office during that year, and $79,768 in processing fees were generated.

Bidders have the option of returning a portion of an office's revenues to the state.  Alternative Opportunities' winning bid included a 2 percent ($1,595) return to the state.  More than $1 million is estimated to be returned to the state in the first full year of operations from the 181 license offices that have been awarded so far under the reformed bidding process. There are 183 offices statewide. 

Details about changes in office operations, if any, will be announced by the agent.

Although Gov. Jay Nixon authorized the Department of Revenue to implement the new bidding system in January of 2009, it didn't become part of state law until legislation was signed by the Governor this past summer. The new law was overwhelmingly approved by both Republican and Democratic members of the Missouri Legislature.

Alana M. Barragán-Scott, director of the Department of Revenue, noted that the department considered many factors when awarding the Ava office.

"In the case of the Ava License Office, two not-for-profit organizations submitted solid bids during both bidding periods," she said.  "The evaluation teams rated the bids using criteria such as customer service, the office location and financial efficiencies, and the winner was selected based on those and other bid specifications."

All local license offices provide services that are overseen by the Department of Revenue, but each office is operated by an independent contractor.  Transactions that are conducted at these offices include the issuance and renewal of driver licenses, issuance of titles for motor vehicles, and the issuance and renewal of registration for motor vehicles, boats and outboard motors.

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