The City of Sparks, City of Reno, Washoe County , and Washoe County Health District have been working cooperatively since April 2012 seeking a new regional business license and permits software solution to enhance applications for on-line capability for our customers.  On June 17, 2014, the Board of County Commissioners approved the Regional Business License and Permits Program contract between Washoe County and Accela, Inc. for a total amount of $1,667,444.  Washoe County is the contracting agency for the regional program.

NRS 76.100 requires any person conducting business in the State of Nevada to obtain a state business registration from the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office.  The state business registration is required in addition to a City of Sparks business license.  Currently the Sparks business license application process is a paper process and is not available on-line. As part of the initial business license application process, the business license staff must validate the applicant possesses a current and valid state business registration before accepting the business license application.  Licensees attest that they hold a current and valid state business registration when applying to renew a business license.

NRS 75A.100 required the Nevada Secretary of State to establish a state business portal to facilitate a person acquiring a state business registration and other State business requirements.  This State Law section also:

• Authorizes any local agency to participate in the state business portal once that agency has entered into an agreement with the Secretary of State’s Office for access to the portal;
• Requires the Secretary of State’s Office to establish common business information to be collected from businesses by the state, by local agencies, and by local health districts which issue business licenses or permits;  and,
• Enables any local agency or local health district which issue business licenses or permits to integrate with the portal to collect or disseminate common business information between the portal and the agency/health district’s electronic application system.

The state business portal, known as SilverFlume, enables a person to apply for and obtain their state business registration on-line.  A person may also obtain the required Nevada Business and Industry Worker’s Compensation eAffirmation of Compliance and the required Nevada Department of Taxation eClearance Compliance through SilverFlume.

The SilverFlume portal captures much of the information needed for a City of Sparks business license application.  One component of the contract with Accela, Inc. is to establish an electronic interface between the platform and SilverFlume.  When a customer is applying for a Sparks business license on-line, the interface will populate the customer’s business information from SilverFlume database.   Initially, this interface will be one-way from SilverFlume into the platform, but the eventual goal is to make the interface two-way.  The SilverFlume interface is a critical component of the regional license and permit program as it will allow:

1. Sparks, Reno or Washoe County business license staff to validate an applicant possesses a current and valid state business registration.  This validation will occur within the platform and will save a significant amount of staff time. Currently, business license staff must either see a paper copy of the registration or query SilverFlume on-line as a separate step in the application process to validate the registration.
2. Transfer of an applicant’s common business information from SilverFlume into the platform.  The information which will be transferred into the platform is outlined in Addendum One to the attached Interlocal Agreement (Attachment A).  This information is the same on the Sparks, Reno, or County business license application (the three jurisdictions share a single application form) and constitutes the majority of the application requirements.  Capturing this information will save a customer from entering the information again into the platform.  A customer can validate the information is accurate and then proceed to other parts of the business license application.

The regional license and permit platform project staff from Sparks, Reno and Washoe County contacted the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office to start discussions on developing an agreement for the platform to access SilverFlume data and for technical staff to begin work on the actual interface.  NRS 277.180 enables public agencies to develop contracts (i.e., agreements) for services if the contract is authorized by law.  As noted earlier, NRS 75A.100 requires the Secretary of State’s Office to enter into agreements with local agencies for access to SilverFlume.  Consequently, the Secretary of State’s Office worked with Sparks, Reno and Washoe County business license managers and their respective legal counsels to develop the Interlocal Agreement for access to Nevada’s Business Portal included as Attachment A to this staff report.

The Interlocal Agreement outlines the various levels of access for the City of Sparks and its regional partners to SilverFlume.

1. Access Level One provides for manual integration whereby business license staff log into SilverFlume with certain administrative rights to view business license information in the portal’s database.  Business license staff is performing this function currently;  however, this level of access will provide more information to staff based on greater administrative rights.
2. Access Level Two provides for automated integration for the regional license and permit platform to query and retrieve information from SilverFlume.  The specific information requirements are called “Common Business Registration” (CBR) and are outlined in Addendum One to the Interlocal Agreement. Addendum Two provides technical specifications for the interface between SilverFlume and the platform.
3. Access Level Three allows for two way integration and exchange of information between the platform and SilverFlume.  This access level is the ultimate goal of the regional license and permit platform project team, but will occur after the platform’s go live date as this functionality is not an identified critical go live event.

Each jurisdiction’s elected body is required to enter into a separate agreement with the Secretary of State’s Office.  Washoe County Commission approved their agreement on April 26^th, 2016.  City of Reno approved their agreement on May 25^th, 2016.  Should the City Council approve Sparks’ Interlocal Agreement, then the Secretary of State’s Office will sign the Agreement afterwards in case the City Council requires any changes to the Agreement during discussion on this agenda item.

Technical staff from Accela, the three jurisdictions, and the Secretary of State’s Office has completed most of the programming and connectivity required to provide for Access Level Two.  The Secretary of State’s Office has granted test inquiries into SilverFlume.

 “I move to approve an Interlocal Agreement with the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office for access to Nevada’s Business Portal included as Attachment A to the staff report for this item.”