News

Gordon-Darby Awarded New Hampshire NHOST Management Contract

In May 2012, the New Hampshire Executive Council approved the New Hampshire NHOST Management Contract award to Gordon-Darby.

Gordon-Darby will continue to provide all station equipment, software, data management, and data communications as well as support services for the New Hampshire OBD and Safety Inspection (NHOST) program. This includes support for more than 2,000 inspection stations and 15,000 inspectors along with a customer-oriented call center for both inspection stations and the public.

Since being awarded the original contract in 2004, Gordon-Darby systems have successfully conducted New Hampshire OBD inspections, recorded and reported the data associated with the State’s safety inspection program and managed more than 9 million inspection records.

We are honored to have been chosen and excited about continuing our partnership with the New Hampshire DMV to provide an enhanced NHOST program and services that deliver outstanding performance, reliability and integrity.

Gordon-Darby Awarded Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) License Sales System Contract

In March 2012, Gordon-Darby was awarded the contract to implement and manage the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department’s (TPWD) License Sales System.

On an annual basis, nearly 2.4 million hunting and fishing licenses are issued throughout the State of Texas. Over the course of the contract, Gordon-Darby will implement a license sales database system and deploy and support over 2,200 point-of-sale systems which will be operated by approximately 1,800 License Agents.

Gordon-Darby will also provide support services, including call center and service depot and complete data migration from the current vendor.

Gordon-Darby Granted Extension Years for the New Hampshire NHOST Management Contract

In June 2010, Gordon-Darby was awarded a two-year extension for the New Hampshire NHOST Management Contract.

The approval vote of approval, granted by the five-member Executive Council, extended the Gordon-Darby OBD II/Safety Inspection contract until June 30, 2012. Strong support of the extension was provided by the New Hampshire Automobile Dealers Association (NHADA), the New Hampshire Department of Safety (NH DOS), Department of Environmental Services (NH DES), and Department of Transportation (NH DOT).

Gordon-Darby will continue to provide all station equipment, software, data management, and data communications as well as support services for the New Hampshire OBD and Safety Inspection (NHOST) program, as it has since being awarded the contract in 2004.

Gordon-Darby also provides a customer-oriented call center for both inspection stations and the public. This service, modeled after Gordon-Darby’s successful operations in other programs, delivers prompt, courteous support to motorists and more than 2,000 stations and 15,000 inspectors.

Arizona Vehicle Emissions Inspection (AVEI) Program: Seamless Implementation of State-of-the Art Emissions Testing

In January 2009, Gordon-Darby completed on-time implementation of an updated vehicle emissions inspection system for the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ). This effort included construction of three new state-of-the-art inspection stations; internal and external refurbishment of all existing stations, development and installation of new technology computer hardware, software and systems throughout the entire network; conversion of selected test lanes to OBD-only (and automated gas cap) testing; and addition of dual-test OBD/gas cap inspection capability in all lanes.

Successful completion of this complex project also involved rollout of the most advanced anti-fraud measures in the I/M industry, including daily iris scanning of all inspection employees and issuance of RFID wrist bracelets, which are then used for secure automated logon at all inspection lane positions. Advanced video monitoring and recording systems were also installed which give Gordon-Darby and ADEQ management enhanced capabilities to monitor employee behavior and vehicle inspection performance online via the Internet.

The Arizona program remains one of, if not the most, complex I/M programs in existence. Its gasoline vehicle test procedures include OBD; IM147, loaded and idle tailpipe testing; automated gas cap and vehicle pressure testing; and visual anti-tampering checks. Diesel test procedures include J1667 snap idle, lug down and loaded opacity testing; and visual anti-tampering checks. Approximately 1.7 million inspections were conducted at the Gordon-Darby-operated inspection stations in 2008. The Arizona network now includes 18 stations and 61 test lanes (plus 3 waiver lanes operated by ADEQ). All stations and lanes were transitioned to brand new computer hardware and software with no impact on existing operations or suspension of inspection activities. Gordon-Darby will continue to operate the Arizona network through June 2014, which will be almost 25 years from when the company was first hired to run this program.

Gordon-Darby Receives OBDII Kiosk Patent

On December 23, 2008, Gordon-Darby was awarded U.S. Patent No. 7,469,171, Method and System for Vehicle Emissions Testing at a Kiosk Through On-Board Diagnostics Unit Inspection. Award of this patent demonstrates the company’s continued success in and commitment to leading the I/M industry in developing new and innovative emissions inspection technology, procedures and processes. It also means Gordon-Darby is currently the only US Government-approved provider of OBDII kiosks.

Gordon-Darby’s OBDII kiosk provides another tool in the company’s efforts to best serve our I/M industry customers. Now that the patent has been awarded, Gordon-Darby intends to move forward in commercializing the technology and pursuing related business opportunities.

Texas Information Management System (TIMS+): Another Successful Gordon-Darby I/M Program Transition

In January 2007, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) contracted with Gordon-Darby to design, develop and operate the new Texas Information Management System. The TIMS+ contract includes a telecommunications network, central database system, and electronic data transmission with over 4,000 emissions testing systems and more than 3,600 inspection stations in four major metropolitan areas in Texas.

In October 2007, Gordon-Darby successfully completed an on-time, seamless TIMS+ implementation. This transition from the previous TIMS vendor took less than 9½ months and required absolutely no changes on the analyzer end. The system continues to run smoothly and it is anticipated the TIMS+ will receive over 6.5 million safety inspection and emissions tests annually.

Gordon-Darby also delivered and is maintaining a comprehensive suite of communications and data hosting services, and program management and reporting applications that Texas is using to administer the decentralized “AirCheckTexas” I/M program.

Decision on MCI Protest of the Award of the Georgia I/M Management Contract

Documents related to the MCI protest of the award of the Georgia I/M Management Contract, RFP No. 46200-773-0000000251, are provided here. These are being provided to allow interested parties the opportunity to review the documents and draw their own conclusions.

Gordon-Darby New Hampshire Contract Amendment Approved

On November 2, 2005, the New Hampshire Governor and Executive Council approved a contract amendment that changes the fee for chargeable inspections to $5.00. Only inspections of OBD-equipped vehicles are “chargeable” based on New Hampshire legislation that became effective in August, which is why the contract amendment and fee change were required.

Gordon-Darby Achieves Fastest VID Implementation for District of Columbia

In July 2005, the District of Columbia’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) awarded a contract to Gordon-Darby to design, implement, host and operate an electronic transmission system and vehicle inspection database (VID) that connects to both the vehicle test systems contained in the DC inspection lanes and the DMV DESTINY vehicle registration database system. Gordon-Darby and ESP were hired under separate contracts to implement a short-term replacement vehicle inspection solution due to DMV’s identification of substantial concerns with the previous system. ESP is responsible for installing and maintaining new OBD, idle and safety testing equipment in the DC vehicle inspection lanes while Gordon-Darby has responsibility for designing, implementing and operation of the VID and the link with DESTINY.

Using our core VID technology, Gordon-Darby was able to deliver a fully functioning replacement system within two months, the fastest VID implementation on record, despite having to adapt to existing analyzer software, analyzer-VID communications and vehicle registration database/communications functionality.

Gordon-Darby Demonstrates Self-Serve OBDII Kiosk

Gordon Darby developed and demonstrated a user-friendly, tamper-resistant self-serve OBDII kiosk at the annual Mobile Sources/Clean Air Conference that was held at Copper Mountain, Colorado, in October 2004. Gordon-Darby’s OBDII kiosk incorporates:

  • Video and audio “prompts” through the OBDII test process, including 'Help functions' designed to assist motorists in barcode scanning of the VIN, locating and plugging into the vehicle diagnostic link connector (DLC), etc.
  • Integral fraud deterrent features that are built into both the kiosk hardware and software, including a Gordon-Darby-built state-of-the-art VIN decoder, which are designed to minimize the potential for motorists to cheat on their OBDII tests.

We are continuing to develop and demonstrate improved versions of our OBDII kiosk, which has the potential for delivering enhanced motorist-friendly vehicle inspections as part of future I/M program implementations.

Gordon Darby Wins the New Hampshire NHOST Management Contract

The State Of New Hampshire awarded the contract for management of a statewide vehicle inspection program to Gordon-Darby in June 2004. In New Hampshire, Gordon-Darby is providing all station equipment, software, data management, and data communications as well as support services for the New Hampshire OBD and Safety Inspection (NHOST) program.

The NHOST program has approximately 2,500 stations and 15,000 inspectors, with over 1.3 million inspections performed each year. The contract includes a five-year operational phase during which Gordon-Darby personnel will maintain all station equipment, staff a call center and operate the data network. NHOST station equipment consists of PC-based units running Windows XP Professional. Features include automated OBD and safety inspection procedures, multimedia help and training, and advanced anti-fraud technology.

Gordon-Darby also provides a customer-oriented call center for both inspection stations and the public. This service, modeled after Gordon-Darby’s successful operations in other programs, delivers prompt, courteous support to motorists and stations.

Gordon-Darby’s NHOST solution incorporates the company’s latest data management suite and core technology, including separate, redundant resources for on-line transactions, reporting, data warehousing and data mining.

Gordon Darby Provides Decentralized Support in Louisiana

Gordon-Darby is now providing full support to approximately 175 inspection stations in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana program. This contract with the State of Louisiana began operation in the spring of 2004. The Louisiana program involves annual OBD/safety inspections of about 400,000 vehicles. The decentralized test network includes 174 private and fleet repair shops spread throughout the 5-parish Baton Rouge ozone nonattainment area.

The program is fully implemented and in its operational phase. The State of Louisiana originally contracted with Parsons to provide test equipment to the Baton Rouge vehicle inspection stations; Gordon-Darby was subsequently hired to provide on-site test equipment service, technician support and help line services to all stations. Company service personnel equipped with fully stocked maintenance vehicles provide timely responses to all service calls.

TransMass™ - A Cost-Effective Transient Test Approach

Gordon Darby has developed and patented TransMass™, a low-cost software-based testing approach that uses BAR97 type equipment to predict mass emissions during a transient drive cycle (e.g., the IM240) without the need for flow measurement hardware. This solution, which can be used to generate near-IM240 SIP credits, is designed for cost effective implementation in either centralized or decentralized test networks.

© 2012 Gordon-Darby, Inc. All rights reserved.