Department of Revenue News Release

JEFFERSON CITY - A St. Louis County corporation has been awarded the contract to operate the Creve Coeur License Office.  The winning proposal was chosen as part of a reformed, competitive bidding process for all of Missouri's local license offices.

Ryker Enterprises, Inc. will be the new agent for the office, which is located at 12943 Olive Street Rd.  Danah Lewis of Eureka is the president of the corporation, and she is the former contract agent of the West County License Office.  Ryker Enterprises has also been awarded the Des Peres and Chesterfield license offices.

The winning bid for the Creve Coeur office was one of five submitted.  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.  According to figures from Fiscal Year 2009, an estimated 85,822 transactions were conducted at the office during that year, and $296,552 in contract agent processing fees were generated.

The Creve Coeur office is one of 10 offices initially awarded in 2009 that are being re-bid at the request of the Missouri Department of Revenue because of incomplete information provided by the winning bidder during the first round of bidding. 

Bidders have the option of returning a portion of an office's revenues to the state.  Ryker Enterprises' winning bid included a 3 percent ($8,896) annual 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 new 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 last 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 the high quality of the bids for the office.

"All of the submitted proposals for the Creve Coeur office were solid," she said.  "Four of the five bidders had experience operating local license offices.  The competitive nature of the process compels the bidders to submit quality bids, and the beneficiaries of these reforms will be the customers that receive enhanced service."

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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