You asked why the Department of Motor Vehicles wanted to move from a centralized to decentralized emissions program.

The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) did not have a preconceived idea of moving to a decentralized emissions program at the expiration of the Environmental System Products Inc. ’s centralized program contract, according to Heather Donaldson of DMV. Instead, DMV’s Request for Proposal (RFP) for a succeeding contractor was broad enough to allow vendors to propose a centralized, decentralized, or hybrid system (i. e. , one that combined elements of both a centralized and decentralized network). DMV received proposals for each kind of system. An evaluation committee rated each proposal on specific criteria and made recommendations to DMV. The DMV commissioner ultimately selected Agbar Technologies, which proposed a decentralized system, as the preferred contractor with whom to negotiate an agreement. Agbar had received the highest score from the evaluation committee.

OLR Report 2004-R-0037 (copy enclosed) provides a detailed discussion of the selection process.

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