City is going digital for permitting and licensing

No one likes bureaucratic red tape, but wading through it on your computer holds distinct advantages over languishing at counters and scuttling between government offices.
That’s one of the drivers behind moving permitting and licensing functions into the digital realm, an initiative that’s making strides in Providence and statewide offices.
In December, the city launched an online permitting system for building projects that had been in the works for years and became a central priority in Mayor Angel Taveras’ economic-development plan.
A month later, the state unveiled its new e-licensing system which can process 77 different licenses for occupations, including real estate agents, auctioneers, liquor sales, engineers and upholsterers.
On a separate track but not yet ready to launch, the state Office of Regulatory Reform is working on an online permitting platform that can be distributed and used by municipalities across the state.
In Providence, the launch of the new digital platform coincides with the long-heralded shift of Providence Fire Department inspectors into the same offices as the Department of Inspection and Standards, allowing the two groups to collaborate on projects and preventing applicants from having to traverse different city buildings.
This unified permitting office has also seen the addition of three employees to expedite smaller projects and allow more senior officials to concentrate on larger, more complex applications.
Combined, the changes should improve a permitting process that business owners, architects, developers and homeowners have complained about for years.
In particular, businesses have described having to dig up typewriters to fill out paperwork that couldn’t be submitted digitally.
“The old style, you brought in paper drawings and it could take awhile,” said Jeffrey L. Lykins, director of the Providence Department of Inspections and Standards. “The new system logs changes as they are being made.”
Named ProvSmart, the new system was developed by InQuest Technologies, which also hosts it, for $279,952.
After applicants create an account, they proceed to a dashboard where they can start and track multiple permits. The system allows officials to make notes on plans and alert applicants to changes through email.
The digital system only applies to projects that do not require any zoning relief and are not large enough to trigger major project review by the City Plan Commission. Under the new system, projects with estimated construction costs of less than $100,000 should be able to complete permitting in less than two weeks.
Larger projects, as long as they do not require zoning relief, should take a maximum of 30 days to process, Lykins said.
Before the city hired them, InQuest created a document-coordination system for Providence-based Gilbane Building Co., to help the firm track designs and paperwork for its many projects across the country.
John D. Sinnott, vice president and Rhode Island district manager for Gilbane, said he has worked with Lykins, sharing the lessons his company has learned from the system, for the past 18 months.
“You can download an application and pay with a credit card,” he said. “It is real time and allows the architect and owner to see where things are getting bogged down.”
So far, at least four smaller projects have completed permits using the system, Lykins said, with a handful more just starting the process.
For now, the city does not have any plans to reduce counter service, so those familiar with the old system are free to stick with paper if they prefer.
In addition to the customer side of ProvSmart, the system also aims to streamline the inspection end of the system by coordinating inspectors and allowing staff in the field to access the system with tablets or smartphones.
Lykins said when he first started working for the city in 2009, the Department of Inspections and Standards only had five computers total.
Now it has 10 tablets for inspectors, who can file photos and submit reports into the system as they are done, not when they return to the office.
A final part of the city’s online project is migrating decades of paper records – including three banks of library-style catalogue cards – into searchable digital form.
At the state Department of Business Regulation, the new e-licensing system, although rolled out officially at the start of the new year, has been operating since late 2013.
By the middle of January, Louis A. DeQuattro Jr., DBR deputy director and executive counsel, said the system had already processed 7,664 new licenses and 6,405 renewals.
The system, created for the state by Iron Data LLC cost $1 million and will need an additional $90,000 per year to maintain. •

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