ORBA and SEMA Welcome RAPTOR Update That Helps Permit Holders Share the Work
Running an off-road event takes a team. Managing the permit should work that way, too.
The Off-Road Business Association (ORBA), a subsidiary of the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), welcomes a long-requested improvement to the Bureau of Land Management’s RAPTOR permitting system: the ability to add Secondary Users so more than one person can help manage a permit directly in RAPTOR.
For years, permit holders had to rely on one user to access an application in RAPTOR, even when several people were working on the permit. For larger events and more complex permits, that could make the process cumbersome and create a bottleneck.
The new functionality opens that process up. Permit holders can bring another person into RAPTOR to help manage the application and ongoing requirements, and Primary and Secondary Users can take over and complete eligible tasks through the dashboard.
The update addresses a longstanding priority for ORBA Legislative Director Laura Butcher, who has provided BLM with feedback on RAPTOR for several years.
“This has been one of my top requests for RAPTOR for years,” said Butcher. “When you’re managing a larger permit, you may have several people working on different pieces, but everything still had to go through one person in the system. Being able to add someone who can get into RAPTOR and help directly is a big deal. It gives permit holders the ability to work as a team.”
Secondary Users can help with application payments, additional application requirements, post-use reports, annual requirements and insurance requirements. Secondary Users can be added or removed through the dashboard, with activity logs and email notifications supporting coordination.
The Primary User remains responsible for signing the authorization and accepting its terms and conditions. Secondary Users cannot perform those functions.
ORBA and SEMA thank Josh Travers, BLM’s Special Recreation Permit National Program Lead, and the BLM team for their continued engagement and responsiveness to user feedback.
The functionality was announced in BLM’s November 5 release notice for RAPTOR version 1.20.0. BLM’s next development priorities include adjusted gross revenue fee calculations and post-use reporting, with improvements planned in phases.
As part of SEMA, ORBA will continue bringing firsthand experience and practical feedback to these conversations to help improve the permitting process for the off-road community.