The contract is a renewal and enhancement of the eFileTexas system, which the Texas Office of Court Administration (OCA) uses for both criminal and non-criminal case filing across all 254 of the state’s counties. The initial contract with Tyler’s home state ran until August 2022, and the renewal will last until 2027 with options to extend another five years.
David Slayton, OCA’s administrative director, said in a press release that the system has been a success as the state has expanded it — since first using Tyler for e-filing in 2012, the state has mandated e-filing for criminal cases. It now has more than 425,000 users and is integrated with 15 different electronic filing service providers as well as 10 case management systems.
“Electronic filing has been key to the Texas Judiciary’s ability to overcome disasters from hurricanes, to the COVID-19 pandemic, and to a ransomware attack,” Slayton said in the statement. “Through all of these disasters, our courts have remained open and operational, and that is due in large part to eFileTexas. It is a crucial function of our judicial system, and I am excited to continue to improve the system with new upgrades and features for our court community.”
The upgrades to the system will include self-service tools for administration as well as reporting functionality for program administrators and local court clerks.
The move follows an up-and-down year for Tyler. In February 2020 it announced that it had passed $1 billion in revenue for the first time, and then four months later it was listed on the S&P 500. Then, in September, it was the victim of a ransomware attack on its internal systems.
