·       SYMPRO is an investment and debt management program that will be used by the Treasury Department. 

·       To date, a program called EVARE has been used to track investments.  Outstanding debt has been managed with spreadsheets.  The transition from EVARE to SYMPRO should take place prior to the end of the fiscal year. 

·       Specific issues leading to the recommendation are listed below: 

   ·      EVARE cannot track debt issues.  Since 2000, the District has issued more than $1B in new debt and as of June 30, 2004, the District had more than 200 individual CUSIP numbers associated with its outstanding debt.  Within the next five years, the figure will exceed 500.  The addition of swaps, variable rate debt, and commercial paper, dictates the need for sophistication in reporting that can no longer be created with spreadsheets.  SYMPRO will provide that functionality.

         ·      As the complexity of the District’s investment portfolio has increased, the volume of manual entry and manipulation of data has increased dramatically and become problematic.  Several problems were encountered in FY 2004 resulting in management letter comments.  KPMG and the Audit Committee agreed the problems would be resolved with the implementation of a more robust investment and debt management program.

    ·      The agreement with SYMPRO is on an annual basis.  As the implementation of PeopleSoft gets closer for the Treasury Department’s modules, this contract will be reviewed both internally and with eVerge Group to determine its value for the District.

·       The Finance Committee approved this recommendation at their meeting on February 18, 2005.

·       The license and service fees for the first year are $9,130; site training and implementation cost is $4,000 making a total cost of $13,130 for the first year.  An annual license fee will be charged for each additional year the software is used.