Dirt Diggers Digest No. 40
July 29, 2003
Editor: Phil Mattera
1. Courtlink introduces corporate litigation profiles
2. Federal contracts database back online
3. Political organization filings now available from IRS website
4. Mergent to produce in-depth industry reports
5. Guidestar expands info offerings on non-profit sector
6. Corporate money co-opts non-profit groups, report finds
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Courtlink introduces corporate litigation profiles
Courtlink, the pricy database that provides access to federal and
some state court dockets, has introduced a new feature called
Public Company Strategic Profiles. The profiles, which cost $150
a pop, provide a statistical summary of all federal district court
cases in which a particular publicly traded company has been
involved for any period beginning with January 1, 2000. There are
four main features of each profile: a breakdown of cases according
to the Nature of Suit category, a breakdown by state, a breakdown
by federal district court and a summary of how many cases are
being handled by each of the company's outside law firms. There
is also a list of cases with headings, docket numbers, filing dates, etc.
For more information, go to <http://www.lexisnexis.com/courtlink/online/>.
Westlaw, the arch rival of Courtlink parent's parent company Lexis-Nexis,
has announced that it is building what it claims is the largest online
collection of legal briefs. See the press release at:
<west.thomson.com/aboutus/news/lglegalbrief.asp>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Federal contracts database back online
The following item comes from Rick Rehberg:
The Federal Procurement Data Center, part of the U.S. General Service
Administration, has put a searchable database of federal contractors
online. The database contains only contracts worth over $25,000, and
only contracts active in fiscal year 2002. The database is available at:
<http://www.fpdc.gov/fpdc/FpdsContractorForm1a.htm>.
Search results give dollar values of the contracts, products produced and
other information, including an indication of whether the contract was
awarded under competitive bidding, and whether the contract is subject to
labor laws such as the Service Contract Act. FPDC sells the same data on
CD for fiscal years 1994-2001 at <http://www.fpdc.gov/fpdc/otherprod.htm>.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Political organization filings now available from IRS website
The following comes from Ed Ramthun:
The Internal Revenue Service now has a Political Organization Filing and
Disclosure Website at:
<http://www.irs.gov/charities/political/article/0,,id=109644,00.html>.
You can search for a political organization's Form 8871 (Political Organization
Notice of Section 527 Status), Form 8872 (Political Organization Report of
Contributions and Expenditures), or Form 990, by organization name, EIN,
or date range.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Mergent to produce in-depth industry reports
Mergent Inc., the company that took over various Moody's products such
as the Industrial and other Manuals, has announced a new product that will
provide in-depth analyses of key industries. The product, which is presumably
intended to compete with Standard & Poor's long-standing Industry Surveys,
will have separate profiles of the North American, Asian/Pacific and European
branch of each industry. Mergent has not announced the pricing of the
surveys, which will be available online directly or as part of the company's
Mergent Online service. For more details, see the press release at:
<http://www.mergent.com/publish/newsDetail158.asp>.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Guidestar expands info offerings on non-profit sector
Guidestar <www.guidestar.org>, one of the key sites for free information
on non-profit organizations, including IRS 990 forms, is now trying to
lure users to a subscription service that has greatly expanded features.
The service, called Grants Explorer, is similar to material provided
by the Foundation Center. It includes information on grantmakers, grants
and personnel at grantmakers. It also allows searches by grantee name.
The service costs $49 a month of $499 a year.
It should also be noted that Guidestar now requires (free) registration
simply to view 990s.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Corporate money co-opts non-profit groups, report finds
"Corporate financial support of many of the country's most prominent
health-related nonprofit organizations threatens the independence and
credibility of such groups," according to a report released recently by the
Center for Science in the Public Interest <www.cspinet.org>.
CSPI found that more than 170 disease-related charities, health-professional
societies, and university-based institutes receive funds from corporate interests,
especially those in the food, agribusiness, chemical and pharmaceutical
industries. For more on the report, titled LIFTING THE VEIL OF SECRECY,
and ordering information, see http://www.cspinet.org/new/200307092.html.
------------------------------------
Philip Mattera
Director of the Corporate Research Project
Good Jobs First