Texas Awards Statewide CMS Contracts

 

Presidio County Courthouse

 

Via press release, August 31, 2021 – The Texas Office of Court Administration (OCA) announced today that it has selected three vendors to support Texas’ new statewide Uniform Case Management System (UCMS). The system is an opt-in court case management system aimed at supporting Texas counties with a population less than 20,000 which equates to over half of the state’s 254 Counties.

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Following a year-long competitive bidding process, the three vendors selected to support the UCMS are Icon Software, iDocket and Tyler Technologies. Counties across the state will be able to choose one of these three vendors to access UCMS. The system is free to counties and supported by a more than $30 million dollar state appropriation to OCA.

 “The new contracts will support the Texas Judiciary as it looks to use technology to better serve those using the court system. The ability to provide a uniform case management system to our courts and clerks will also improve safety in our state,” said Nathan Hecht, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas. “Once implemented, the system will close critical information gaps and provide immediate access to court information to our clerks and magistrates.”

 “The Texas Judiciary chose an innovative path for this procurement by signing contracts with three vendors. Doing so encourages competition and provides for choice by clerks,” said David Slayton, Administrative Director of the Office of Court Administration. “At the same time, the systems will enable courts to become more efficient and provide greater transparency to data, both much needed as the Judiciary responds to the recent crises that place great challenges on the Branch.”

 Highlights of the UCMS include:

• UCMS is web-based, and counties only need a computer and internet connection to use.
• UCMS fully integrates with the statewide eFiling System (eFileTexas) and Document Access system (re:SearchTX) for quicker access to the courts and court documents.
• UCMS will feed information to the Department of Public Safety’s Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) to upload criminal records to DPS more timely and efficiently.
• UCMS supports standardized data files for ease and efficient monthly reporting of court data to OCA.
• UCMS supports all case types handled by District and County Courts.

 The selected vendors will begin working to onboard counties to the system in September 2021 and are projected to have the first jurisdictions online in early 2022.  The website for the UCMS is located at https://txcourts.gov/programs-services/uniform-case-management-system/ .