As I write this, I just returned from touring The Parks at Walter Reed, one of the newest re-development projects underway in the District. For more than 100 years, Walter Reed was the U.S. Army’s flagship medical center and proudly served more than 150,000 military personnel. Today, with more than $1 billion in planned investment, this historic property is being transformed to better serve our 700,000+ residents. The property is adding retail and commerce, art and green space, improved infrastructure, and a blend of rental and privately-owned residences, a significant portion of which will be affordable housing. When fully developed, The Parks will serve as a major economic engine for Washington, DC and generate thousands of jobs sustainably and in partnership with the community. This is transformation and progress.
Similarly, DCRA has undergone a transformation of our own. In 2018 we developed a plan to improve the performance of the agency through a digital transformation, and it worked.
- We made it faster to get permits and business licenses;
- We revamped our customer service model to ensure you get the help you need within 3 business days or less;
- We launched a first-of-its-kind program to train residents to conduct inspections on-demand;
- We created a public dashboard so you can track our performance and hold us accountable; and
- We seamlessly transitioned our in-person services to a virtual environment during the pandemic.
Our current fiscal year started on October 1, 2020, and so far DCRA is off to a great start. I invite you to read on and take a look at the metrics that guide our performance as an agency – in service to you, our customers. Of our agency’s 19 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), we’re exceeding our targets for 18 of them and meeting our target for one. We’re proud of these achievements, but we know our work is not yet done and we are striving to consistently keep improving, and improve we will.
Sincerely,
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 Ernest Chrappah, Director
Take a look! Below is the list of DCRA’s targets on how we deliver services to customers (Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)). See how we performed during the first quarter of FY21.
In alignment with Mayor Muriel Bowser’s climate and energy goals and the Clean Energy DC plan, DCRA has partnered with the Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE) to develop and administer the Energy Efficiency Enterprises DC grant program. We invite interested and entrepreneurial-minded parties to apply.
Unlike other programs that fund one project or build, this program’s goal is to increase energy efficiency in residential buildings and homes in the District in a scalable way. It does so by developing and delivering industry specific training and providing capacity building and business development support to small enterprises. Applicants must propose how they will support the residential building industry by meeting and exceeding the requirements of the 2017 Energy Conservation Code (ECC) that became effective May 2020.
With $120,000 in grants available through the Green Building Fund, nonprofit organizations, with an IRS 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) determination, universities or educational institutions, and private enterprises are eligible to apply. For more information, instructions on how to apply and deadlines, visit doee.dc.gov.
DCRA continues to increase access to our programs and services, better serving residents and supporting businesses in the District. As part of this movement forward, DCRA has been expanding its successful Resident Inspector Program and is further partnering with Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners (ANCs) – an important community stakeholder – to improve our community.
On Tuesday, February 23, we’re offering training specifically tailored to Commissioners to educate them on after-hours and illegal construction processes, requirements, and the platforms used when conducting and reporting after-hours illegal construction.
Encourage your ANC Commissioner to join other Commissioners who participate in the program and become a Resident Inspector, specializing in illegal construction and conducting after-hours inspections in your neighborhood.
While America witnessed the historic inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, DCRA served an important role.
DCRA collaborated behind the scenes with several sister agencies and federal emergency management partners to provide assistance to residents and businesses in the District.
More visibly, leading into the inauguration, DCRA’s Consumer Protection Unit conducted 119 site visits to all hotels licensed in the District to ensure that District residents and visitors were safe. Such measures included verifying that:
- Signage was displayed to ensure that guests were aware of screening procedures;
- Public spaces were arranged so that social distancing was facilitated;
- Staff wore face coverings and used personal protective equipment as required; and
- There was a process to track all individuals on hotel properties for the purposes of contact tracing should the need arise.
We thank all hotel operators for their cooperation in helping keep us safe.
Do you have the skills we are looking for? Know of a few skilled, passionate, highly-motivated individuals in your professional network? We’re hiring for the positions below and encourage you to apply or share these job postings with qualified candidates seeking new opportunities to apply.
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Plans Reviewer – Closes 1/30/2021
Program Manager (Illegal Construction) – Closes 2/1/2021
Building Code Inspector III – Closes 2/3/2021
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