LANSING – The Michigan Department of State will be unable to implement the vehicle registration fee changes Gov. Rick Snyder signed into law this week to raise funding for roads unless Hewlett Packard turns over the source code for the troubled information technology project to upgrade secretary of state online services, officials say.
Attorneys for the department added that argument to their case Wednesday at the Kent Circuit Court for a preliminary injunction ordering HP to give the department the source code for the Business Application Modernization project. Judge Christopher Yates is expected to rule Monday on the preliminary injunction.
The Department of State terminated the contract with HP after years of problems in implementing some of the basic goals. Then it sued the company and HP filed a counter-complaint.
Under the road funding package, vehicle registration fees will increase by 20 percent and a new fee on hybrid vehicles will begin, both taking effect January 1, 2017. The new fee for non-hybrid electric vehicles will begin April 1, 2016. So while there is no immediate issue, the state still has raised the concern that it cannot make changes to registration fees without the source code.
“We wouldn’t be able to make changes to the system,” department spokesperson Fred Woodhams said. “We need that source code to do so.”
Woodhams said the department hopes for a timely resolution. In the meantime, he said HP staff remain onsite providing transition support. Woodhams said the department is exploring its options of a new vendor continuing the upgrade project.
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