Audit determines Massachusetts RMV issued 1,905 licenses to deceased people

An audit has determined that over 1,900 licenses were given to deceased names and the RMV did not deactivate thousands more licenses of deceased people.

Office of the State Auditor has conducted a performance audit of the Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) for the period July 1, 2014 through December 31, 2016. In this performance audit, they assessed RMV’s Automated Licensing and Registration System (ALARS) to evaluate RMV’s administration of state driver’s licenses and disability parking placards and its collection of revenue.

Below is a summary of the findings and recommendations courtesy of the Office of the State Auditor .

Finding 1

RMV did not effectively administer the use of disability parking placards.

Recommendations
1.RMV should use the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File, which identifies individuals who have died in other states as well as Massachusetts, to improve its efforts to identify and cancel deceased individuals’ placards.
2.RMV should require all individuals with permanent placards to reapply every five years.
3.RMV should take the measures necessary to ensure that its database of information regarding individuals who have been issued disability parking placards is accurate and complete.

Finding 2

RMV issued 1,905 licenses after licensees’ dates of death and did not deactivate 4,688 licenses for individuals who died before their licenses expired.

Recommendations
1.Rather than using the Department of Public Health’s Vital Statistics File to provide a notification of death, RMV should use another source, such as the Death Master File, to verify death dates for individuals who die before license expiration and immediately change their license status to expired.
2.RMV should strengthen controls to verify that people named on license applications are not deceased, perhaps by instituting a check against the Death Master File that does not limit the list to individuals in Massachusetts.

Finding 3

RMV was unable to locate supporting documentation for 24% of the transactions recorded.

Recommendation

RMV should update its system or create a new system for locating documentation related to a particular date and service location. The updated system should account for instances where the local office has limited space.

RMV has informed the auditor that its new ATLAS program will replace its legacy system, known as ALARS, and will enable the issuance of REAL ID–compliant credentials, allow more online transactions for individual customers as well as business customers and government partners, and improve service delivery overall.