The City of Durham, North Carolina, placed a $2 million investment using GFOA YieldAdvantage, an Internet auction website offered by the Government Finance Officers Association. Traditionally, government entities and school districts solicit bids from banks and broker-dealers via phone. Using the GFOA YieldAdvantage website, state and local governments are able to solicit bids and exchange settlement information easily and efficiently via the Internet. The $2 million transaction was a "sealed" solicitation in which nine broker-dealers submitted offers for a 473 day agency security.
In December 2003, the GFOA entered into an alliance with Grant Street Group, a fixed income Internet auction house and parent of MuniAuction, to create the GFOA YieldAdvantage website (www.gfoayield.com).