The state DMV's successful bid for a one-month warranty extension on its new Genesis computer system paid off: The company that built the system is fixing more than 300 ''bugs'' for free.
Deloitte Consulting hopes to have the work done by late spring. At the same time, it's working on hundreds of other ''non-bug'' upgrades that the Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety wants and will pay for.
The end result, Deputy DMV Director Ginny Lewis said Friday, will be a system capable of smoothly processing vehicle registrations, license renewals, titles and other transactions.
The $35 million computer system is working well now, with line waits down to an hour or two compared with the day-long waits that developed when Genesis came on line Sept. 7. And when all the upgrades are completed, Lewis said lines should get even shorter at DMV offices.
At first, Deloitte's warranty was to expire Nov. 7. But because of all the startup problems the DMV asked for and got an extension until early December to identify the most serious bugs that were Deloitte's responsibility.
''We did an analysis to determine the contractor's obligation for what they're supposed to fix, and the count was 313 as of Dec. 3,'' Lewis said. ''Everything else is really an enhancement and not their obligation.''
The fixes will be covered under an initial $10 million contract to create Genesis and make sure it operates. An 11-member team is handling the remaining debugging. The upgrades that aren't under warranty are covered under a separate $500,000 contract approved last month.
Things got so bad at DMV offices after the Genesis startup that Nevada drivers got 30-day grace periods so they wouldn't be ticketed for driving with outdated plates. More DMV staffers were hired and a hotline was set up.
But Lewis said on Thursday that the grace period enacted by Gov. Kenny Guinn in October is no longer necessary and has been discontinued.
She added that because of program enhancements and the additional staffing, ''we do not intend to have a backlog again.''
In addition to the Genesis upgrades, Guinn - who inherited the project from former Gov. Bob Miller - moved up the starting date of $1 million worth of improvements such as Internet transactions and registration at emission stations.