Often the hardest part of applying for a permit is figuring out which permit you need. This is especially true for small businesses. For example, someone selling cakes from her garage on eBay may or may not qualify as a “restaurant” that requires a permit.

Artificial intelligence tools now make it much easier to address these questions. A user can type in certain basic information, and the AI will both figure out whether a permit is required and point the user to the necessary permits. AI can also help complete the associated forms, filling in certain basic user information automatically and helping to identify possible mistakes.

Fulcrum Foundation leadership works with the AI vendors at the forefront of developing and deploying this new technology.  Fulcrum can sit down with your state leadership, identify permits that are good candidates for automation, and then suggest possible low-cost vendors to build the system.  Fulcrum can also help connect state leadership with stakeholder groups that can test the end product and promote it among their members.

These days, essentially everything is available online. Businesses are baffled when they cannot log onto an agency’s website to apply for a permit. And paper-based processes waste the time of both members of the public and agency staff.

Virginia started an initiative to ensure that its agencies transitioned to a 100% digital process. This involved both ensuring that all permit applications appeared on agency websites and that fees could be paid online. Governor Youngkin’s executive order that called for a transition to 100% digital is available here.

Fulcrum Foundation can work with your state to implement similar reforms. And it can help identify vendors that offer low-cost solutions. By adopting a government-wide rather than agency-by-agency approach, state reformers can often achieve considerable savings.

If you can track an Amazon package online or use the Uber app to see when your ride will show up, why can’t you do the same thing for a permit? That’s the question that guided Virginia’s Office of Regulatory Management when it built the Virginia Permit Transparency (VPT) online dashboard. You can now see exactly where your permit is in the process, how long it’s supposed to take at each step, and how long it’s actually taking. If there’s a problem, you know exactly whom to call.

VPT also includes a non-public dashboard that allows agencies to track additional details, including which specific office and permit writer is responsible for a delay. If there’s a problem, the agency can provide appropriate coaching or reallocate workload, if needed. VPT also provides reminder emails for overdue permits and eventually escalates those reminder emails up the management chain.

Fulcrum Foundation leadership oversaw the creation of the award-winning VPT database. They can sit down with your state and figure out how to design a similar dashboard. They can also help identify low-cost vendors that can build it and provide connections to Virginia agency staff that can offer insights based on their experiences with VPT.

You can access the VPT database here.

If you decide to start with a pilot at one agency, you can check out a similar pilot that the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality undertook. Its PEEP database provided the template for what later become VPT. You can access it here.

Speeding up the permitting process might be easier than you think. In Virginia, permit turnaround times quickly plummeted once the process was made transparent to the public. At least 5 VPT agencies achieved a 20% or more reduction in processing times. The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) saw a 65% reduction in processing time.

The bottom line seems to be that people tend to work harder and faster when they know somebody’s watching. In addition, the enhanced transparency allows for better workforce management. For example, DEQ realized that some offices were overworked, and it reallocated permit applications from busy to slow offices.

Virginia also adopted a rigorous process for tracking all permits and licenses, including single-step permits and licenses that did not qualify for VPT. This too produced impressive results, including an over 80% reduction in processing time for professional licenses.

Fulcrum Foundation leadership oversaw this initiative in Virginia. They also worked with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to adopt a model bill that a state legislature can use to recreate the Virginia reforms. They can sit down with your state’s leadership and design a similar program.

Here are some helpful resources:

• Youngkin Executive Order 39

• ALEC Model Permit Reform Bill