Deputy Registrar Opportunity

The proposer must apply as an individual, a nonprofit corporation, county clerk of courts, or a county auditor. The Registrar may appoint county auditors and eligible clerk of courts without using a competitive selection process. However, the Registrar may also require county auditors and eligible clerk of courts to participate in the competitive selection process. Partnerships, corporations, and other business associations are not eligible. Certain others are not eligible (such as employees of the State of Ohio) and are listed in the RFP.

No person will be awarded a contract because that person pays an assessment to or makes a contribution to any political party, the Governor or his campaign committee, or any candidate for public office. An affidavit must be signed by all proposers stating that he/she has not contributed more than $100.00 to any prohibited political officeholder (complete details are contained in the RFP).

The Ohio BMV is looking for proposals that offer the best service to the citizens of Ohio. We welcome your interest in serving the Ohio motoring public.

The Ohio BMV supports and is a proponent of Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) businesses. As such, all deputy registrar locations are available for MBE certified proposers to submit application for. MBE certified proposers must include all applicable documentation when submitting their proposal for a location. The MBE Certified Document is available along with all other required RFP documents. Additional information on how to become an MBE certified business can also be found within the RFP.

Agency rent and site improvement is the responsibility of the Deputy Registrar. Some sites are under the control of the BMV, Ohio Department of Public Safety or a county (usually in conjunction with a clerk of courts title office) and are called BMV controlled-site locations. Minimal site improvements are involved with controlled site locations.

There are also deputy-provided sites where the successful proposer is required to provide, through lease or ownership, the site where the Deputy Registrar agency will be operated. In general, there are minimum site criteria including square footage, counter specifications, accessibility to individuals with disabilities and parking which must be addressed and are explained in the RFP.

Some locations are designated for one-stop shopping and are subject to additional requirements and may include subleasing space to a driver license examination station, a clerk of courts, or both.

The proposer must have verifiable funds in a financial institution account to cover site preparation costs, agency rental payments for three months and one month's personnel costs. The BMV supplies necessary computer terminals and inventory on a consignment basis.

As part of the proposal, each proposer must submit completed documents as described in the RFP packet. Presently, these documents include:

• Personal Checklist
• Personal Questionnaire
• Business and Employment Experience
• Customer Service Experience
• Start-Up Cost Deposit Statement
• Political Contributions Report
• Personnel Policy Summary
• Comprehensive Personnel Policy
• Security Plan Summary
• Facility Maintenance Plan Summary
• Involved and Invested in Your Business
• Credit Report
• Local Law Enforcement Report, or Certification of Good Standing as a Nonprofit Corporation
• BCII & FBI WebCheck Criminal Reports (or Articles of incorporation for Nonprofit Corporations)
• Affidavit of Deputy Registrar Proposer (individual, county auditor, or nonprofit corporation)
• Operational Checklist
• Signed Deputy Registrar Contract
• Appointment of Agency Managers
• Experienced Employees Summary
• Staffing and Personnel Costs Calculation
• Start-up Cost Calculations

For Some Locations

• Deputy Provided Site Checklist
• Site Questionnaire
• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Checklist
• Lease Option
• Proximity Attachment (if applicable)
• Site Plan
• Counter Plan
• Site Map
• Other forms as required for individual locations

Question #1 The last sentence of Section 4B on Form 5.3 Lease Agreement states: “Owners have indicated below by initialing whether this lease option is exclusive or not exclusive.” In the past, the owner would initial one of two options for exclusive or non-exclusive lease options, however, that section of the proposal has been removed. Should the owner complete the form as is without regards to exclusivity?

Answer #1 Correct, the exclusivity option for a property owner/manager has been removed. In the event a property owner/manager chooses to grant exclusivity, they would simply NOT grant any other lease options for proposers at that location. The previous language proved to be problematic and confusing for property owners/managers. The sentence referenced in your email has been removed in the available Site Forms Packet on the BMV website.

Question #2 I also want to know if they are planning on moving the DX from next to the BMV, and wanted to know if there is any information that you can give me on the amount of parking spaces that are there and the dimensions of the facility because I believe those questions are asked in the bid? One last question, how far back do they want us to go with regards to years of management experience and employment? 

Answer #2 There are no current plans on relocating the Hilliard Driver Exam Station. Additionally, site information (parking spaces, square footage, lease option, etc.) should be obtained from the property owner/manager prior to proposal submission. Lastly regarding managerial experience, the forms specify any experience since 1990 is considered applicable. With that said, emphasis should be placed on most recent employment experience.

Question #3 On the checklist, it asks for us to submit a credit report, however, that may take some time to get in some cases weeks, which means perhaps not meeting the deadline for everything, how would this be addressed? Also, what is meant by a Law Enforcement Report? Finally, what is a Webcheck Receipt?

Answer #3 A credit report, which contains a credit score should not take an extended period to obtain. Additionally, both the local law enforcement report and webcheck items are covered below. See (1), (2), and (3) from section 1.12 of the 2023 RFP which addresses all three of your questions. Please reach out should you need further clarification.  

(1) A credit report dated during calendar year 2023 covering the proposer's current credit status. You must submit your credit report with your proposal. We will not accept credit reports emailed separately from your proposal. Credit reports must be complete and shall include a credit score supplied by one of the recognized score providers such as: VantageScore, PLUS, Risk Score, or Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) and shall be supplied by, at minimum, one of the three major credit-reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion. Three-in-one credit reports will be accepted. Credit reports downloaded from the Internet are acceptable as well. Summary credit reports are not acceptable.

(2) A local arrest and conviction report issued during 2023 from the local law enforcement agency for the jurisdiction in which you reside. The local arrest and conviction report should be available from whatever local police agency serves your community. This could be city police, village police, township police, or the county sheriff. If you have lived in your present community for less than twenty-four months, you must submit reports from both your present community and your previous community of residence. There is no standard format for these reports. The report may be on the law enforcement agency’s letterhead or may be in some other form.

(3) Ohio and FBI criminal background reports. Each individual proposer, county auditor, and clerk of court is required to apply for an Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) background reports through WebCheck, an electronic criminal background reporting service offered by the Ohio Attorney General through local outlets. The WebCheck locations are listed on the Ohio Attorney General’ website at the following address: Webcheck Community Listing - Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. The WebCheck facility will not provide the criminal background report directly to you; ask the WebCheck facility to send the report to: BMV Registrar’s Office, Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, 1970 West Broad Street, P.O. Box 16520, Columbus, OH 43216-6520. Be certain to obtain a receipt from WebCheck and submit a copy of your receipt with your Proposal. The Registrar reserves the right to require any deputy registrar or deputy registrar employee to submit a BCI WebCheck report and/or a Federal Bureau of Investigation background report at any time during the contract term.

Question #4 When submitting the proposal are the documents that require a signature/notary allowed to be saved as individual pdfs and sent in addition to the packet pdf or does the whole completed packet need to be scanned with the signed/notarized documents and saved as one pdf.  I have not found a way to insert the signed/notarized document into the original file.

Answer #4 It is certainly preferred if everything is submitted as one cohesive packet, similar to when hard copies were accepted. There are a few ways of doing this:

• Scanning the entire packet once completed and saving/submitting in accordance with the RFP instructions.
• If certain items need saved separately, you should be able to “insert” them into the packet file, resave once all items are present, then submit in accordance with the RFP instructions.
• If unable to navigate the above two options, submitting them as a separate PDF will be permitted.

Question #5 How often are deputy sites available to bid on? What factors determine which locations are available?

Answer #5 Contracts are awarded up to five-years. At the end of each contract, regardless of length (1 to 5 years), the location will become available for bid. Regarding location availability, contracts were originally and continue to be staggered. This ensures some locations are available for bid each year. This year there are nine locations available for bid.

Question #6 With regards to the $25,000 bond, my insurance company said that there are over 490 different types of bonds for Franklin County. They asked me to ask what type of bond specifically is needed, or is there a sample of the bond needed or even an application?

Answer #6 The requirement is to provide a pre-approval notice for a $25,000 surety bond. If awarded a contract, the proposer would be responsible for executing and maintaining the surety bond requirement throughout the tenure of their contract.

Question #7 I am looking for the dimension information on the Hilliard location for my proposal. I have reached out to Hilliard Square Shopping Center for this information, and they were unable to provide it. I see this information being crucial in the proposal as the answers are across 13 pages of the proposal between the layout, dimensions of the counters, and ADA compliance requirements. 

Answer #7 Typically the information you are requesting, as it pertains to site specifications, is obtained via the property owner/manager. I was able to find a previously submitted proposal, which I can provide, containing site information for location 25-N. I would recommend reviewing with the property owner/manager to ensure there have been no changes since this was submitted in 2014.

Question #8 As the incumbent Deputy Registrar at 57-D, I obtained my contract after the previous Deputy Registrar resigned. I would like to know how to appropriately interpret the provision below, pertaining to incumbent Deputy Registrars, and the application of the interpretation to the site plan and counter plan.

Answer #8 The forms listed in the statement below will need completed but no other items within the Site Forms packet. This is due to the fact the location has already been previously approved through an RFP.

• Incumbent deputy registrars applying for contracts at existing license agency locations designated as Deputy Provided Sites are not required to complete and submit all Section 5 forms if the site was approved under the previous RFP and if there have been no changes to the site since the last contract was approved and signed. Under this license agency site provision, form 5.0, page one (1) of form 5.1, and form 5.3 must be completed and submitted with all other required forms and documents.

Question #9 What ORC codes would you like us to use when obtaining a Webcheck? There must be a BCI code and an FBI code. Lastly, there is a “Direct Copy” to the BMV Registrar from a drop-down mailing list. Should it be sent to the physical address or can it be Directly sent by choosing BMV Registrar?

Answer #9 The code used for the FBI webcheck is "Real ID Act" and the code to be used for the BCI webcheck is “Deputy Registrar Contract Application.” If necessary, the clerk can select “Other” as the code and add a note listing the above information. Regarding where to have the background check sent, the webcheck facility will not provide the criminal background report directly to you; ask the webcheck facility to send the report to: BMV Registrar's Office, Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, 1970 West Broad Street, P.O. Box 16520, Columbus, Ohio 43216-6520. You can also select "Direct Copy" which will be transmitted electronically to the BMV. Be certain to obtain a receipt from webcheck and submit a copy of your receipt with your proposal.

Question #10 In reference to the political contributions form, it states we are required to pay a $25.00 fee to file the form by January 31st, annually. In previous RFP’s, we submitted a check with our proposals. Now that we are submitting the proposals electronically, are we not required to pay at this time or are there alternative forms of payment available?

Answer #10 There is a political contribution section (Form 3.5) in the Personal Forms packet for proposers to list any donations greater than $100.00 but no reference or requirement for payment. I believe you are referring to the annual Political Contribution Disclosure Statement which is required annually by any individual or nonprofit corporation that operated as a deputy registrar during the previous calendar year. Along with the statement, a filing payment of $25.00 is required. This process is separate from the Deputy Registrar RFP and should be handled accordingly.