ePermits Working Group Meeting
Friday, October 23, 2015
Question
Consider Broward County Building Officials
Association membership on Working Group
Working Group
Jeffery Halsey
Environmental Protection & Growth Management
EPGM
Chris Zimmerman
American Institute of Architects
AIA
Jim Dipietro
Board of Rules and Appeals
BORA
David Rosenof
Broward League of Cities
Sergio Ascunce
Building Officials Association of Florida
BOAF
D. K. Mink
Building Owners and Managers Association
BOMA
John Siegle
Construction Association of South Florida
CASF
Steven C. Bassett
Florida Building Commission
FBC
Mustafa Albassam Florida Engineering Society
FES
Mason Jackson
Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance
GFLA
Vicki Morrow
Broward County GIS
Carlos Alvarado
Broward County IT
ePermits Case Study
By JoAnn Loiodice
A Case Study
JoAnn Loiodice, PPD Intern
ePermits Timeline
1Q 2012
Vision and
Charter
4/2012
Change
Mgt.
Teams
Mid-2012
Portal
Complete
1/2013
DMD Proof
of Concept
Go Live
4/2013
ePermits
Reqs
Complete
6/2013
Tech.
Design
Complete
3/2014
ePermits
Go Live
ePermits vs. Total Permits By Month
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
Total Permits
ePermits
EPermits Total Usage
8800
8000
7200
400
1422
6400
5600
4800
4000
3200
2400
1600
800
0
6967
Surface Water
Management License
Asbestos - Statement of
Responsibilities
Development and
Environmental Review
Applications by Method
5000
4000
3000
2000
4582
4207
1000
1780
0
Remote
Walk-in
Paper
ePermits Programs
SWM
DER
SRRA
17%
25%
32%
51%
54%
83%
21%
17%
ePermits
Paper
ePermits
Partial
Walk-in
ePermits
Walk-in
Paper
ePermits Programs
SWM
17%
83%
ePermits
Paper
• Go Live: March 2014
• Stakeholders:
 Professional Engineers – have good
relationship with Surface Water Staff
• Application Method:
 Online web (remote) applications
 Paper
• Other: SWM management strong
advocates of ePermits
ePermits Programs
• Go Live: Nov. 2014
• Stakeholders:
 Many Contractors
 Many Runners
 Many one-time
customers
• Application Method:
 Remote ePermits
 Partial ePermits
 Walk-in
DER
32%
51%
17%
ePermits
Partial
Walk-in
• Technically more
complicated
 Internal referral
process (19
programs)
• Many Cities still require
paper DER certificate
and plans
ePermits Programs
•Go Live: Feb. 2015
•Stakeholders:
Many Contractors
Many Runners
Many one-time customers
•Application Method:
Remote ePermits
Walk-in
Paper
•Other: New, in process of transitioning
SRRA
25%
54%
21%
ePermits
Walk-in
Paper
ePermits Programs
SWM
DER
SRRA
17%
25%
32%
51%
54%
83%
21%
17%
ePermits
Paper
ePermits
Partial
Walk-in
ePermits
Walk-in
Paper
Estimated Benefits / Savings (To Date)
•
•
•
•
•
Fuel Costs: $38,000
CO Emissions: 9,400 lbs.
Paper: 30 tons (80 trees)
Travel time: 4,500 hrs.
Staff Time: 3,300 hrs.
• Savings to applicants (local):
$360,000
• Savings to County (internal):
$140,600
• ePermits makes Broward a more
accessible market for non-local
investment
Estimated Savings To Date
Savings to County (internal)
$140,000
$360,000
Savings to Applicants (local)
$0
$60,000
$120,000
DER (in-person rev.)
$180,000
$240,000
DER (electronic rev.)
$300,000
SRRA
$360,000
SWM
Estimated ePermits Startup Costs
$1,000,000
$2,000
$800,000
$195,000
$600,000
$400,000
$200,000
$0
$715,000
Est. Total:
$912,000
Software costs
Hardware costs
Personnel Costs
Projected County Savings vs. Costs
(2016-2018)
$1,200,000
$1,000,000
$1,070,000
$1,000,000
$800,000
$600,000
$400,000
$200,000
$0
Projected Savings
Projected Expenditures
Projected Total Costs vs. Savings (2016-18)
$6,000,000
$5,000,000
$4,000,000
$3,000,000
$4,195,000
$2,000,000
$1,000,000
$0
$1,070,000
Savings
County
Applicant
$1,000,000
Costs
Projected Environmental Impact & Indirect Savings
Tons of Paper
325
Trees
820
Carbon Emissions (lbs.)
Travel Distance (mi.)
58,300
1,364,000
What’s next for Broward County ePermits?
1. Affect broad scale cultural change
 Incentives
 Outreach/Education
2. Bring more programs onto ePermits
3. Continuous improvement of ePermits application process
Thank you!
Methodology
Major Change Initiatives
Major Change Initiatives
Major Change Initiatives
1. Broward County ePermits
 Bringing together 19 internal businesses
 Estimate 5 years
2. Taxi Industry and Uber
 Became a political priority
 15 months entire industry changed
3. Climate Change
 Begin in earnest with Board resolution in June 2008
 Led by Broward Mayor
 16 months to County-wide plan, including four county compact, approve by
Broward Board
 Organizational support continues to evolve
Major Change Initiatives
4. Go Solar




6 counties, 24 cities participating
2 counties, 9 cities dropped out (36%)
Four years to complete
Grant driven
5. Unnamed Florida Department
 Combine multiple districts
 Too expensive, too uncertain
Major Change Initiatives
Conclusions
1. Entity with significant authority required to lead
2. Time to complete inversely proportional to
significance of authority
3. Risk tolerance helps
4. Seinfeld refrigerator model
Communication Issue
Communication disconnects between Fire Departments
and Building Departments
1. Add to the ePermitting process
2. Work with Building Officials
3. Recommend starting with BSO – resides over several
cities
a. Representation on Working Group?
b. Fire Prevention Branch: Construction plans review
a.
Weston, Pembroke Park, Cooper City, Lauderdale Lakes, Dania Beach,
Deerfield Beach
Action Plan from
Last Meeting
1. Work with the Alliance to promote the Miller report once
published
2. Promote what we’ve completed by way of ePermitting
recommended practices
3. Update the ePermit survey results
4. Investigate changing 27-66 to reflect concurrent building
permit review and environmental review processes
5. Develop a draft RFI for ePermitting solution to be discussed
at next workgroup meeting
Next Meeting
Date:
Time:
Host:
Adjourn
Meeting Adjourned