It’s hard to imagine that we’re reaching the year mark in which DMV administrators and their teams pivoted to serve residents under the constant cloud of the COVID-19 pandemic. During this challenging time, our vendors and AAMVA continued to support us so that we could conduct credentialing and motor vehicles services, and in some jurisdictions, third-party agents stepped in to assist with these critical services. As we look back at our roadmap, we see that we’ve worked together to successfully serve residents to issue driver’s licenses, identification cards, vehicle titles, registrations and other DMV services in our respective jurisdictions.

This issue of MOVE focuses on the third-party partners and best practices on managing them. While third-party agents have been in business well before the COVID-19 outbreak, in many jurisdictions, they took on a much larger role during the pandemic. Just like DMV programs, these third-party providers had to quickly shift and modify procedures to meet public health orders. Whether in a pandemic or after, DMV administrators have the responsibility to manage these agents to ensure effective service to the public.

In addition, the recently published Best Practices for Administering Third-Party Agents document approved for release by the AAMVA Board of Directors in January offers a comprehensive perspective on managing these important partners. This 52-page guide was the culmination of many months of work involving jurisdiction members across all four regions, AAMVA staff and associate members from industry. This document will assist jurisdictions seeking to implement or expand agent services or help in upgrading policies and procedures with existing agents.

I would also like to take the opportunity to recognize and thank Dianne Graham for 42 years of service with AAMVA. In recent years, Dianne served as one of AAMVA’s Directors, providing critical support to the AAMVA community. You may have seen her at a virtual meeting or two this past year. Dianne will be missed, and on behalf of the AAMVA Board of Directors, we wish her the very best as she begins a well-deserved retirement.

The Board of Directors and AAMVA staff remain hard at work ensuring the association is meeting the needs of its members. While virtual meetings have become the norm, our committees and working groups continue to create new documents and resources for our members. This is a true testament to the dedicated individuals that comprise AAMVA’s membership and staff. Well done, everyone!

– Mike Dixon

2020–2021 AAMVA Chair of the Board