The Town of Sahuarita, Arizona placed a $5 million investment usingGFOA 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 $5 million transaction was a "sealed" solicitation in which nine broker-dealers submitted offers of agency securities, with D.A. Davidson winning the award with a yield of 3.60992%.
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).