VITA Recovery Efforts Move Towards Completion

(Wednesday) September 1, 2010

DMV Returns to Full Operations Tomorrow; Governor Directs Agency to Extend Hours in Weeks Ahead to Process Backlog in Applications

The Virginia Information Technologies Agency continues to make progress in returning all state agencies to normal operating conditions in the wake of the recent disruption in service caused by the failure of a major data storage system.  The initial failure affected 26 of the Commonwealth’s 89 agencies and caused 13 percent of the Commonwealth’s storage servers to stop working.

As of this morning, all impacted state agencies have received access to their computer systems and files. The required pre-usage testing process is ongoing and found issues are being addressed. Specifically, the Department of Motor Vehicles will be back to normal operations by tomorrow. Details regarding the status of specific local DMV’s will be released on www.dmvnow.com. In order to accommodate Virginians inconvenienced by recent events, the governor has directed DMV to extend office hours over the weeks and weekends ahead in order to process the backlog in applications that has developed. DMV will provide specific information regarding the extended hours later today.

Speaking about the progress being made, Governor McDonnell remarked, “The recent computer outages impacting state agencies, and the citizens they serve, are disappointing and unacceptable. In the days ahead we will be launching a comprehensive effort to determine how this situation occurred and, most importantly, how we can ensure that it does not happen again. However, the foremost priority at this time is ensuring that all state agencies return to their normal operating conditions as quickly as possible. As of this morning all state agencies again have access to their computer systems and files. While some testing still is being done prior to a full return to normal, this is a positive development.”

The governor continued, “The recent outages have had a particularly disruptive impact on Virginians dealing with our Department of Motor Vehicles. To ensure that all problems are corrected as quickly as possible, I have directed officials at the agency to extend office hours over the weeks, and weekends, ahead. Details will be released by DMV later today. From this office to our agencies to our customer service centers, we are all committed to fixing these recent issues, returning all state operations to normal, and ensuring that outages of this nature do not take place in the future.”