October 15, 2010

Dear Friends:

As many of you know, the Department of Business and Professional Regulation's job is to support Florida's economy by licensing businesses and professionals efficiently and to protect the public by regulating fairly. In order to put Florida's businesses and professionals to work as quickly as possible, we have been making every effort to simplify and expedite processes. I'm proud to announce that next week DBPR will be making the application and renewal process for more than six industries easier, faster and more cost-effective.

This advancement is the second phase of a four-phase project. The project will make licensure and renewal transactions for many businesses and professionals possible entirely online. This enhancement will reduce the amount of time necessary to review and approve applications and renewals by eliminating the reliance on timely receipt of mail and sorting and scanning by DBPR. It decreases the amount of time DBPR staff needs to process applications and renewals, and it reduces the time it takes to provide information to customers. The system enables DBPR staff to process a higher volume of applications and renewals at a faster pace.

Next week, this service will be extended to electrical contractors, harbor pilots, veterinarians, community association managers, talent agents and athlete agents. Phase one, completed in September, provided this robust online service to cosmetologists, real estate appraisers and the Division of Hotels and Restaurants.

I hope that this enhancement drastically improves the customer service experience with DBPR. I'm proud of the team at DBPR, particularly the Division of Technology, whose expertise and project management has made this improved customer service possible. This is one milestone of many that DBPR will achieve on our mission to license efficiently and regulate fairly.

Sincerely,

Charlie Liem
Secretary

Department of Business and
Professional Regulation
1940 North Monroe Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399
Customer Contact Center:
850.487.1395
www.MyFloridaLicense.com