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GSA Fleet plows through backlog of license plates, credit cards

Cardboard boxes stacked two high and 20 across on top of lateral file cabinets.
Some 40 boxes full of new government vehicle license plates sit atop a row of filing cabinets. These boxes, plus another 26, represented the amount of tags the Zonal Vital Records Center received in one week this August. Photo courtesy of Debbie Wilson

By Alison Kohler

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Multiply the stress and aggravation of renewing vehicle tags or credit cards by 2,600 and you’ll have some idea of what Ingrid Frey and Melissa Shyne in GSA’s Fleet Zonal Vital Records Center dealt with recently.

“In mid-March, COVID-19 forced GSA Fleet to stop deliveries of license plates and credit cards to Fleet offices, due to employees not being able to go into offices to receive shipments, as a result of mandatory telework requirements,” said Senior Advisor Debbie Wilson, Fleet Zonal Operations.

In the middle of summer, GSA approved a few employees and contractors to go to the Region 6 office in Kansas City, where the Zonal Vital Records Center has been situated since October 2019.

The smallest number of employees, wearing masks, were allowed to report — allowing for ample social distancing and minimal risk of exposure to COVID-19.

In August, the center received about 2,600 sets of license plates and credit cards to replace expiring, lost or stolen plates and for vehicles being consolidated into the GSA Fleet.

Four long rectangle boxes with a small box and a packet of papers sit on a small white round table
GSA's Zonal Vital Records Center received boxes full of GSA Fleet Services credit cards in August after a stoppage in replacing expiring, lost or stolen cards due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo courtesy of Debbie Wilson

“The backlog of license plates and tags that had been held since March began being delivered in July,” Wilson said.

The GSA Fleet ZVRC employees and contractors in Kansas City are responsible for:

  • Providing a central location to consistently and efficiently control, manage and maintain Fleet vital records, such as Certificates of Origin, license plates, credit cards, vehicle recalls, toll invoices, etc.
  • Managing and maintaining excess license plates inventory, along with corresponding credit cards, for more than half of the GSA Fleet.
  • Receiving, scanning, storing and managing Certificates of Origin for GSA Fleet nationwide, which will number over 32,000 for fiscal year 2020.

"The ZVRC has been able to coordinate creative ways to accomplish short-term support to Fleet Management Centers and Fleet Service Representatives by providing not only license plates and credit cards, but Certificates of Origin to support the missions of Fleet customers,” Wilson said.

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Last updated: Sep 24, 2020
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