Vermont brings environmental permitting onlineSituationWith stricter environmental legislation and regulations comes the need to manage a greater number of environmental permits, certifications, and licenses. With the volume of permit applications increasing each year, the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) needed a plan. Without a more efficient way to address the permitting process, DEC staff would soon be overwhelmed simply by trying to manage the applications for permits – not to mention monitoring and enforcing permits that were granted.
To meet this need, DEC and Competitive Computing (C2) worked together to create eDEC. As the welcome page states, eDEC is “a secure site for submitting environmental permits, transmittals, certifications, and reports electronically to the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).” Phase 1 includes applicant and DEC administration functionality for two permits – the Stormwater Multi-Sector General Permit and Underground Storage Tank Permit.
ResultseDEC serves the Vermont constituency with greater online capabilities and creates efficiency within DEC permit programs by automating many of the processes related to permit applications. eDEC is integrated with the programs’ permit databases as well as with the Business Office which allows for permit fees (paid by credit or debit card) to automatically flow from eDEC to a third-party payment processor to the State of Vermont financial system.
Phase 1, while launching functionality for two specific permits, also provided the foundation for the nearly forty permits not yet brought online. The next phase, currently underway, will add Waste Water On-Site Permit functionality. | 
|  | Over the course of our current engagement with C2, their team and our team have worked very closely together, inspiring more a feeling of true partnership than one would expect from a traditional consultant relationship . . . C2 has helped agency staff members take a business improvement idea with a focus on establishing a new technical architecture from a rough concept to a well thought-out and comprehensive implementation strategy . . . We really appreciate the depth of their program management and technical solution skills, and know that whatever knowledge we ultimately gain from this collaboration, it will be from one of the best companies around. |  | |
Rod Dehner,IT Manager,Vermont Agency of Natural Resources | |
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