The Walz administration has signed a 34-million-dollar contract to replace the state’s troubled vehicle licensing and registration system, MN-LARS, with a system from an outside vendor, Fast Enterprises. They’re the only company that bid on the job, which doesn’t bother Republican state Representative Paul Torkelson from Hanska. “It’s not really surprising that they’re the only vendor, since they had already done that work on the drivers license side,” Torkelson says. “They know the state, they know our needs, and we are confident that the company can do the job.”
The governor’s office says the software replacement project will be completed in two phases, the first in 16 months, and the second phase 10 months after that.
Torkelson notes deputy registrars will have to be trained on the new program. “They have another time of work ahead of them to learn the new system, and we need to make sure that they are properly compensated,” he says. Earlier this year the legislature approved 13 million dollars to reimburse deputy registrars for extra expenses caused by MN-LARS problems.