R -- The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOUSC) is seeking a contractor to perform investment and recordkeeping tasks in support of the Court Registry Investment System.

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOUSC) is seeking a contractor to perform investment and recordkeeping tasks in support of the Court Registry Investment System (CRIS). The Court Registry Investment System (CRIS) is a cash management system for court registry funds developed and tested by the Clerk, hereinafter called ?CRIS Fund Manager?, of the United States District Court of the Southern District of Texas (TX-S), which is located in Houston. The system began operations in 1988. Currently there are twenty-three participating courts around the country. As of June 30, 2005, the registry fund total for all federal courts was approximately $3.3 billion of which $1.8 billion was invested in CRIS. Securities purchased are normally held until maturity. Safety of principal and liquidity of investments without sacrificing principal are among the more important objectives of the CRIS. The Clerk of the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Texas, known as the CRIS Fund Manager, seeks a contractor to assist in developing portfolio strategies to accomplish the objectives of CRIS, to advise on the selection of specific investments, to execute directed securities transactions, and to maintain case-by-case accounting records. In brief, each week the CRIS Fund Manager is advised of new deposits and planned withdrawals. The contractor will advise what security transactions, consistent with the CRIS objectives, are appropriate in these instances. The CRIS Fund Manager will then direct the contractor to buy or sell specific securities. Securities purchased by the contractor will be transferred to the CRIS account in the Securities Handling Resource-sharing Endeavour (SHARE) system maintained by the Federal Reserve. Once confirmation of the transfer has been received from the Federal Reserve Bank an immediate payment (deposit) will be recorded in the contractor?s reserve account at the Federal Reserve Bank. In those rare instances when securities must be sold prior to maturity, funds must be deposited in Treasury?s General Account at the Federal Reserve Bank prior to the securities being transferred from the CRIS account in SHARE. Because monies remain on deposit with the Treasury and are never in possession of the contractor, there are no collateral requirements. The contractor will next update individual case records by adding new deposits, subtracting withdrawals and allocating portfolio earnings. A case investment report will then be mailed to each court member. Other portfolio information and statistics will be provided to the CRIS Fund Manager on a regular basis. The solicitation is scheduled to be released on or about March 27, 2006. The point of contact for this solicitation is Michelle Hupp, Contracting Officer, (202) 502-1574.