Department of Justice Awards Contract to Seattle Legal Services Firm to act as U.S. Central Authority

Federal Government awards contract to outsource duties of the United States Central Authority.

Washington, DC, April 11th, 2003 – The United States Department of Justice and its office of Foreign Litigation has awarded a five-year contract to ABC Legal Services and its Process Forwarding International Division to act as the United States Central Authority in the processing and serving of civil documents under The Hague Service Convention, Inter-American Convention on Letters Rogatory and Letters Rogatory from non-convention countries.

Based in Seattle Washington, Process Forwarding International will begin June 1st, 2003 to perform work that is currently handled by the United States Federal Marshals Service in concert with the U.S. State Dept. and the Office of Foreign Litigation. This Federal contract with a private corporation is a first for the Justice Dept. and for the legal support services industry in the U.S. Process Forwarding International was considered a front-runner in this bid, due to its numerous state and county contracts to serve civil documents in child support cases.

Washington State Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell offered these comments:

Senator Patty Murray:
"In these challenging economic times, Washington State has been harder hit than almost any other state. That's why it is more important than ever for Washington companies to maximize their opportunities to grow and to create jobs. This new contract should enable ABC Legal Services to help grow jobs in Seattle."

Senator Maria Cantwell:
"By processing and serving civil Hague Convention documents, Seattle's PFI frees the U.S. Marshals Office to focus on important domestic security work. PFI was granted this first of its kind contract because of its long and successful civil work for state and local governments."

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A trend is emerging in Law Enforcement towards outsourcing civil case functions. As Federal Marshalls and Sheriffs begin focusing on homeland security and other criminal matters, private industry must step in and pick up the slack on the civil side." said Steve Carrigan, co-founder of PFI.

Process Forwarding International (PFI), a wholly owned subsidiary of ABC Legal Services, Inc (ABC), provides legal support services to U.S. Government agencies and private law firms worldwide. ABC/PFI specializes in process service, private investigations, court document research and document translations.