|
|
Developing and Implementing Web-Based Permitting Tools and Information
Next Steps
The Transportation Permit Efficiency and
Accountability Committee (TPEAC) has consistently recognized and
supported uses of web-based permitting tools and
information technologies as important for
streamlining the transportation permitting and
project-delivery process. The web and
information technology can play a vital role in
bringing people and information together to make
more efficient, effective, transparent, and
lasting decisions. TPEAC has looked to
technology, not as a panacea, but as an
additional tool to bring streamlining and
environmental benefits to all stages of the
transportation project delivery continuum, i.e.,
from planning and design, through review,
decision-making, and permitting, to
construction, monitoring, and reporting. TPEAC
has validated and brought additional focus and
support to the use of GIS technologies,
web-portal technologies, interactive on-line
permitting applications, web-enabled guidance
and best-practices information databases,
on-line permitting and commitment tracking, and
more. Through the piloting of online permitting
processes and tools on transportation projects,
TPEAC has seen business-side benefits accrue to
applicants and agencies alike.
In looking ahead, TPEAC is pleased to see a
strong commitment in the Governor’s Regulatory
Improvement Program to the continued advancement
and use of the web as a tool for doing business
with and interacting with government (see
Executive Order
on Regulatory Improvement [#06-02]). TPEAC
believes the Governor’s Office of Regulatory
Assistance (ORA) is well positioned to continue
in TPEAC’s stead, and to champion, support, and
provide a focal point for the continued use,
development, and advancement of web-based
permitting tools and information technologies.
Much is already occurring in the regulatory
agencies. ORA could provide a useful function by
keeping a systems-level view on these activities
in order to realize opportunities for greater
integration, and broader use and application.
TPEAC encourages further consideration of the
following:
- Develop Integrated, On-Line Permitting
Systems:
ORA could play a valuable role in
working to strategically synchronize and
structure further advancement of environmental
and natural resource agency permitting processes
to the web. Many have already moved to the web
(internet or intranet) for one aspect of the
permitting or decision-making process or another
(e.g., see On-Going/Related Efforts below). Few
if any however have made the full transition to
the web (e.g., on-line application, tracking,
decision-making, compliance reporting, etc.),
and none have done so in a comprehensively
integrated or linked way with other on-line
permitting processes (with the partial exception
of the TPEAC supported One-Stop E-Permitting
Service described below). Key permitting,
review, and decision-making processes that could
be considered further as part of a system-wide
commitment to advance a more integrated,
user-based, on-line permitting model include: SEPA; ESA Section 7 Biological Assessments; all
JARPA permits; NPDES Construction Stormwater;
and Forest Practices Applications. [Note: In
their Business
Process Review of Environmental Permitting for
Transportation Projects the Transportation
Performance Audit Board recommended
consideration of expanding the One-Stop
E-Permitting Service beyond its initial JARPA
focus to include integration of Forest Practices
Applications].
- Convene, Spotlight, and Showcase Successes:
ORA could play a valuable role in using its
position to inventory, document, and showcase
best practices and preferred methods and models
(e.g., establishing performance measures and
metrics for web-based permitting applications,
using web tools and GIS technologies to support
mitigation planning and choices, accepting fully
electronic on-line applications, etc.). Much is
occurring at local, state, and federal levels to
advance on-line permitting. Staying connected
and using the successes of others is essential
to being able to efficiently progress toward a
more comprehensively integrated and linked
on-line permitting system. [Note: The efforts of
the Enterprise Business Portal Initiative
(described below) will be invaluable for
understanding the “state-of-the-art,” and that
which might be applicable to environmental and
natural resource permitting, mitigation, and
decision-making.]
Click on the above
graphic to see a larger version. History/Background Information
TPEAC's enacting legislation called for the development of a
"one-stop permit decision-making process" to
streamline and expedite permit decisions.
One-stop permitting was defined as a coordinated
decision-making process that streamlines
environmental review and permit decision making
for transportation projects by providing
concurrent, consolidated review by each agency
required to review the project. Initially,
the
One-Stop Permitting Subcommittee was tasked
with developing this process, which was to be
tested by the
Pilot
Projects Subcommittee on three projects
statewide. Following completion of initial
tasks, the two subcommittees merged to form the
One Stop/Pilot Projects Subcommittee in November
2002, citing mutual goals and falling
attendance. In early 2004, the name of the
subcommittee was changed to
Permit Delivery to better reflect the
committee’s work. The Permit Delivery
Subcommittee supported the development of
Web-based permitting tools
and recognized their future value for improving
multiple aspects of the environmental
permitting, review, and decision-making process,
including:
- planning for, developing, and submitting
agency applications;
- receiving, reviewing, and responding to
applicant submittals and project proposals; and
- storing and retrieving data, information,
decisions, and commitments.
In July of 2003, the Legislature enacted 2SSB
5694 to create a pilot project to develop an
integrated permit system that combines the
requirements and documentation necessary for
permitting decisions by various permitting agencies
and entities. The legislation charged the
Office of Regulatory
Assistance (ORA, then the Office of Permit
Assistance), in cooperation with TPEAC, the
Washington State Department of Transportation, and
local, state, federal, and tribal regulatory
agencies with creating a single set of documentation
to be used by all the permitting entities.
However, finding a project to pilot the system
proved difficult. As a result, ORA, TPEAC's
Permit Delivery Subcommittee, the
Multi-Agency Permit (MAP Team), the state
Departments of Transportation, Fish and Wildlife,
and Ecology, the King County Department of
Developmental and Environmental Services, and the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers jointly developed an
integrated on-line permitting system that met many
of the goals and objectives of the legislation. This
system (i.e.,
One-Stop E-Permitting Service) has been
developed and is now being beta-tested on several
transportation projects. The
One-Stop E-Permitting Service is a tool with
two initial, primary functions. First, to facilitate
the expeditious preparation and submittal of
high-quality and “ready-for-review” environmental
permitting applications, materials, and documents.
Second, to facilitate a more effective and efficient
system and method of project management and project
decision-making. The One-Stop E-Permitting Service
is intended to realize decision-making efficiencies
and transparencies for the benefit of applicants,
agencies, and interested and affected stakeholders
alike. The One-Stop E-Permitting Service is also
designed to effect more durable and effective
decisions, better projects, and better environmental
outcomes. The One-Stop E-Permitting Service is
currently focused on increasing application
completeness rates, reducing permit decision-making
transmittal times and iteration cycles, increasing
project decision-making clarity, understanding, and
transparency, and otherwise providing:
In addition to improving permitting processes, the
One-Stop E-Permitting Service has been developed to
support early project planning and design, early
interagency involvement and decision documentation,
and comprehensive project management. This is
accomplished using the One-Stop E-Permitting
Service’s structure and project-based interagency
communication and documentation location. The
One-Stop E-Permitting Service has been developed
under the leadership of the Office of Regulatory
Assistance, and is now being tested in its beta form
on a number of
WSDOT and transportation projects.
|
One-Stop E-Permitting Service
as a Sub or Environmental Permitting
Specific Portal: |
| The One-Stop E-Permitting
System could in time be an environmental
permitting sub-portal site through which an
entity (person, business, or agency) could
apply for all applicable permits through the
One-Stop E-Permitting Service, have that
application downloaded to each regulatory
agency’s own permit system for processing,
tracking, and decision-making, and have the
permit be uploaded back to the Service for
retrieval by the applicant. An applicant
should be able to track his/her
application/permit status through the
Service via periodic uploads of actions
taken by the permitting agencies, or
directly through the respective agencies.
The Service could in time serve the function
of maintaining the project profile as the
project evolves and to include the project
description so that the same project
description information is used (at the
appropriate level of detail) for all
documents (e.g., Biological Assessments,
Biological Opinions, NEPA, SEPA,
environmental permitting applications). |
Ongoing/Related Efforts
As already suggested, the web is an important and
relatively new tool for environmental permitting,
review, and decision-making. Many agencies of
government are increasingly looking to the web and
web technology as an important additional tool to
support the permitting process. A few relevant and
notable examples include:
- Enterprise Business Portal Initiative: The
intent of Governor Gregoire’s Enterprise
Business Portal Initiative is to develop over
time a single, secure, on-line licensing,
permitting, regulatory, and tax collection
system that uses web tools and web technologies
to integrate disparate agency business processes
and business practices. Integration and
alignment for the Portal is expected to occur
incrementally and over time, and to be done
through discrete “service paths” (e.g., see
graphic below). ORA could play a useful role in
supporting TPEAC agencies’ connection to the
Portal. This could include use of the One-Stop
E-Permitting Service as a sub or environmental
permitting-specific portal. ORA could play a
valuable role in working to support the virtual
integration and alignment of agency web
applications and information technologies with
the Portal.
- Washington Department of Ecology’s
Aquatics Database: Ecology’s
Aquatics Database is used as an intranet
project management tool and reporting
mechanism for non-hydropower projects
regulated under Section 401 of the Clean
Water Act and Ecology's Coastal Zone
Management Program.
- Washington Department of Fish and
Wildlife’s Hydraulic Permit Management System (HPMS):
WDFW’s HPMS is an intranet-based tool that
allows WDFW agency staff to accept, review,
process, and issue Hydraulic Project Approvals
(HPAs) within a database structure. The system
is based on web access to a central database to
provide tracking, and systematic and consistent
processes. HPMS was implemented in November 2004
as the latest part of the on-going effort to
upgrade and modernize the tools and processes
that support the HPA responsibilities of WDFW.
- Federal Highway Administration’s
Biological Assessment (BA) Template:
FHWA has just launched an effort to develop a
similar (and for Washington State an integrated)
One-Stop E-Permitting Service for complying with
the requirements of Section 7 of the Federal
Endangered Species Act. FHWA is developing a web
application for FHWA to present a Biological
Assessment (BA) template and appropriate
guidance designed to facilitate the submittal of
complete BAs. The web-site content will be
stored in a relational database that can be
modified and updated in order to continually
present up-to-date guidance and examples that
clearly explain what information is needed, and
clarify the appropriate level of detail needed,
to be consistent with FHWA standards.
- Washington State Department of
Transportation Commitment Tracking System:
As part of its efforts to improve business
practices, WSDOT has developed a Commitments
Tracking System (CTS). CTS provides a single
point for entering and tracking commitments. CTS
allows WSDOT to log, track, assign, and document
completion of commitments for improved
management of compliance goals. CTS allows
Project Design, Construction, Inspection, and
Maintenance Engineers as well as Compliance
Managers access to information needed to
implement a contract. It provides a tool to help
manage WSDOT’s commitments and permits in order
to meet the requirements of the resource
agencies.
- Natural Resources Information Portal:
The Natural Resources Information Portal is a
single web portal place to discover, learn
about, and access available natural resource
information for Washington State useful for
permitting and decision-making. See
http://www.swim.wa.gov/.
|
|
|
|
