[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 183 (Thursday, September 21, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Page 49029]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-23376]



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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
[Release No. 34-36238; File No. S7-29-95]


Contracting

AGENCY: Securities and Exchange Commission.

ACTION: Notice of intent to modify the prime dissemination contract to 
deregulate certain prices charged outside of the public reference 
rooms.

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SUMMARY: The Securities and Exchange Commission (the ``SEC'' or the 
``Commission'') is announcing that it has reached a preliminary 
agreement with its prime dissemination contractor,\1\ Disclosure 
Information Services, Inc. (``Disclosure''), to modify the terms of its 
contract during Fiscal Year 1996. Pursuant to this agreement, the 
Commission intends to end its current practice of regulating the prices 
for microfiche and watch services that Disclosure sells to the public 
outside of the Commission's public reference rooms, effective January 
1, 1996. The Commission is publishing this notice to solicit comments 
from interested persons.

    \1\The Commission's prime dissemination contractor furnishes 
various services to the Commission, the Commission's public 
reference rooms, and the outside commercial market, as discussed 
below, in connection with disseminating SEC filings to the public
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DATES: Comments should be received on or before October 6, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be submitted in triplicate to Jonathan G. 
Katz, Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 450 Fifth Street 
NW., Stop 6-9, Washington, D.C. 20549. All comment letters should refer 
to File No. S7-29-95. All comments received will be available for 
public inspection and copying in the Commission's Public Reference 
Room, 450 5th Street, NW., Washington, D.C.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Fernando Alegria, Contracting Officer, at (202) 942-4000, Office of 
Administrative and Personnel Management, Securities and Exchange 
Commission, 450 Fifth Street NW., Washington, D.C. 20549.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the prime dissemination contract, 
Disclosure furnishes the Commission and users of the Commission's 
public reference rooms with various document-related services, 
including microfiche-based copying services, and offers SEC-regulated 
microfiche and watch services for SEC filings to its commercial 
customers outside of the public reference rooms.\2\Disclosure's costs 
for providing these services are paid for by public reference room 
revenues, revenues derived by Disclosure from its regulated outside 
sales, and SEC payments to Disclosure.

    \2\The cost for Disclosure's microfiche services outside the 
public reference rooms are to be recovered by disclosure through 
charging clients ``not-to-exceed'' regulated prices set forth in the 
agreement. The regulated price is two-tiered. Under Tier 1, 
Disclosure call sell microfiche to its commercial clients outside 
the public reference rooms at cost, but not to exceed .90 cents per 
microfiche card if they are advance annual subscription purchasers 
of 50,000 or more microfiche cards per year, or if they are 
universities or not for profit libraries irrespective of volume. All 
of Disclosure's other commercial microfiche clients outside of the 
public reference rooms must pay the Tier 2 price, i.e. at cost, but 
not to exceed $1.05 per microfiche card.
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    The Commission's purpose in regulating the price of Disclosure's 
microfiche services offered outside of the public reference rooms was 
to ensure the availability of this records system for SEC filings 
pending the maturation of electronic technologies, particularly the 
Electronic Data Gathering Analysis and Retrieval (``EDGAR'') system. 
EDGAR data now is readily available at very low cost through a variety 
of service organizations and over the Internet, however. In addition, 
the National Archives and Records Administration (``NARA'') recently 
concluded that the Commission can use magnetic tape instead of silver 
halide microfilm to satisfy NARA's archival requirements, and the 
Commission soon will begin to use magnetic tape for this purpose. These 
developments demonstrate that electronic records technologies now are 
widely accepted. Under these circumstances it no longer makes sense for 
the Commission to subsidize or regulate the relatively antiquated 
technology of maintaining records of SEC filings in microfiche form. 
Accordingly, the Commission intends to end its payments for Edgar-based 
microfiche and deregulate Disclosure's microfiche prices outside the 
public reference rooms, effective January 1, 1996.\3\

    \3\The affected commercial subscribers will include re-sellers 
that compete with Disclosure in the aftermarket, and many university 
and not for profit libraries. Of course, all of Disclosure's sales 
inside the Commission's public reference rooms will continue to be 
at prices set by the Commission.
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    Notwithstanding deregulation, the existing contracts of regulated-
rate microfiche subscribers will be honored by Disclosure until the end 
of their terms. It also appears that Disclosure and other companies 
will remain in the market to furnish microfiche of SEC paper 
filings.\4\ Thus, it appears that the supply of such fiche will not 
come to an abrupt end, although prices should be higher than 
Disclosure's current regulated rates. In addition, fiche of SEC paper 
filings will remain available through services Disclosure will provide 
to the Commission's public reference rooms, including services to 
public reference room user organizations through whom such fiche might 
be ordered. Once the Commission's agreement with Disclosure is 
modified, the Commission no longer will be supporting the production of 
any Edgar-based fiche, however. Thus, the economics of producing such 
fiche might not remain attractive to Disclosure, leading to a possible 
end to this source of supply once all of its existing regulated-rate 
contracts have been serviced.

    \4\After the next round of filer phase-ins on EDGAR, these 
mostly will consist of insider trading reports and regulated entity 
registration forms. The Commission is considering incorporating into 
EDGAR some or all of the few remaining form types that are filed on 
paper.
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    Dated: September 15, 1995.

    For the Commission, by the Executive Director, pursuant to 
delegated authority.
Jonathan G. Katz,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 95-23376 Filed 9-20-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8010-01-M