Texas DMV Enlists ISF to Navigate High-Risk License Plate Overhaul

As part of a statewide mandate to eliminate paper temporary tags, the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV) turned to consulting firm ISF to lead risk identification and mitigation efforts during a fast-tracked transition to metal license plates.

The initiative, mandated by House Bill 718 enacted during the 88th Legislative Session, required major operational and technical changes across the agency and more than 20,000 dealerships effective July 1. The switch was driven by legislative concerns over widespread fraud involving paper tags.

Under the new model, license plates are issued at the point of sale and assigned through the state’s webDEALER system. But implementing this change in fewer than two years posed significant logistical, technical and organizational challenges that TxDMV leaders said warranted outside risk expertise.

“One of the first things we did in the early phases is sit down and try to come up with all of the possible risks and issues,” TxDMV Chief Information Officer Wendy Barron told Industry Insider. “But we also recognized that sometimes you're too close to the problem, and that it would behoove us to bring in an external third party.”

ISF was brought on to serve in that role. Working across the TxDMV’s business and IT functions, the firm developed a detailed risk register, flagged high-impact vulnerabilities and issued mitigation recommendations across communications, inventory management and technology integration.

“They worked with our business area, worked with IT, worked with all the relevant parties that were implementing this new change … and made some recommendations for mitigation and some things that we can do,” Barron said.

The partnership shaped how the department approached everything from stakeholder outreach to vendor onboarding. ISF’s risk register was fully incorporated into the TxDMV’s project workflows and remains in use as part of ongoing risk tracking.

Barron described ISF’s involvement as “tremendously valuable,” particularly for identifying blind spots that had not been surfaced internally.

”They identified some things that we hadn't considered,” she said. “We were able to head some issues off at the pass before they ever came to fruition.”

One of the more persistent challenges involved dealership training and adoption of the state’s webDEALER system. Prior to implementation, only about 30 percent of dealers were using the platform. With the transition, the remaining majority had to quickly learn a new process for assigning license plates.

“In spite of the hundreds of emails and communications and the trainings … at the end of the day, some of the dealerships either said, ‘Oh, we know it,’ or … they didn't get everybody trained,” Barron said.

ISF played a key role in shaping the TxDMV’s communications strategy to address these issues.

“They made some recommendations in terms of communications channels and some different suggestions in how we might communicate that we hadn't considered, which I think were very useful,” she said.

The TxDMV worked with dealer associations, county offices and other stakeholders to deliver training and guidance across multiple formats. ISF’s input helped the agency anticipate gaps and structure messaging more effectively, work that Barron said was critical to reducing friction at go-live.

While some implementation challenges remained after go-live, Barron said the early planning and ISF’s risk identification training made a measurable difference in the program’s success.

Six months into the new system, the TxDMV has largely moved into steady-state operations, and the risk management framework ISF helped establish has carried over into other projects. “We incorporated the ISF risk register into our standard workflows … and that framework just kind of carried forward at this point,” Barron said. “That risk identification ahead of time really did help us get in front of some things.”

The agency credits the program with reducing fraud opportunities and improving customer experience by allowing buyers to leave dealerships with their permanent plates.

“It empowers the dealers to provide that full scope of service right when you go buy the car,” Barron said.

Behind the scenes, Barron said ISF’s structured and objective approach was critical to navigating the program’s complexity. By providing early clarity on potential pitfalls and guiding the agency through mitigation planning, the firm helped ensure that the transition remained on track despite the scale and urgency of the change.