Department of Revenue News Release

JEFFERSON CITY - License & Verification Services LLC has been named as the agent for the Jefferson City Motor Vehicle and License Office.  The winning proposal was chosen as part of a reformed, competitive bidding process for all of Missouri's local license offices.

"One of the first reforms I initiated when I became Governor was to terminate the old patronage system of awarding local license offices," Gov. Jay Nixon said.  "Under this new system, any person or group is allowed to bid, and the winner is chosen using a fair point system that rewards ideas for good customer service and fiscal efficiency."

License & Verification Services LLC is associated with the current agent, Gary Wilbers, and Dana Wilbers, both of Jefferson City.  Mr. Wilbers has been the agent since 2005.  The winning bid was one of six submitted for the office, which is located at 1617 Southridge Dr.

According to figures from both Fiscal Year 2008 and FY 2009, the Jefferson City office is the third largest in the state in terms of transactions and processing fees for the agent.  In FY 2009, the estimated number of transactions was 173,728, and it generated about $577,500 in processing fees.

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

Bidders have the option of returning a portion of an office's revenues to the state.  Using processing fee numbers from FY 2008, the estimated amount of money that will be returned to the state in the first contract year from the 181 offices that have been awarded so far under the new bidding process is $1,094,446.

Although Gov. Nixon authorized the Missouri 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.

Of the 181 offices awarded so far, 101 have gone to incumbents, groups associated with incumbent agents or interim agents.  Eighty of the offices have been awarded to new agents.  There are 183 offices statewide.  The two offices that have not completed the bidding process are Greenfield and Linn.  Ten offices initially awarded are in the re-bidding process, and the winning proposals for those offices will be named within the coming weeks.

Alana M. Barragán-Scott, director of the Missouri Department of Revenue, said the new bidding process is going well.

"The teams that review the office proposals have been impressed with the quality of the bids," she said.  "Some proposals include longer office hours, some include better office locations and others have good ideas to improve customer service during peak operating hours.  I believe the reformed bidding process has been a success for Missouri citizens."

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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