SEC Awards Pact for Electronic File System

The Securities and Exchange Commission awarded an eight-year, $52-million contract to four companies led by McLean, Va.-based BDM Corp. for the agency’s electronic financial disclosure system,

The electronic filing system called EDGAR will eventually allow subscribers access to the filings as soon as they are accepted by the SEC. The current pilot system only allows users access to this information through four terminals in each of the SEC’s public reference rooms in Washington, New York and Chicago and two terminals in the SEC press room in Washington.

The SEC has spent about $25 million on the EDGAR program since its inception in 1984, said John O. Penhallow, the director of EDGAR management program. The new program should be implemented in 18 months, and the pilot system will continue until then, he said.

Mead Data Central Inc. of Dayton, Ohio, will provide the group with search and retrieval capability for SEC filings comparable to Mead’s Lexis information system. Sorg Corp. will provide advice on the design and operation of the system.