The Judiciary is in the process of modernizing its case management system. One of the first steps in the modernization plan is to replace the current version of the system known as PACER (Public Access to Court Records) with unified search functionality and other improvements aimed at making records searches easier and more intuitive and user-friendly.

Unified search functionality would eliminate the need for users to search for records at individual federal courts and would also enable full-text searches and searches by judges’ names – features that PACER users have in the past said they favored. The system’s planners hope to take advantage of modern search technologies and algorithms, including “fuzzy” search logic so that misspellings and similar words are identified.

In April 2023, the Judiciary published a draft solicitation to vendors as a first step in a procurement process that will support PACER modernization. Draft solicitations are published on SAM.gov or other government websites to elicit input from industry. They give interested vendors the opportunity to ask questions and provide comments that ultimately can help an agency improve the solicitation, prompting better vendor proposals and heightening competition.

Milestones in the modernization of the Judiciary’s case management system will be updated as new information becomes available over the duration of the multi-year project.