CONTACTS:

Doug DeLay – EDS
(+1) (972) 797-3656
doug.delay@eds.com

Karmela Lejarde - MERS
(+1) (703) 761-1274
karmelal@mersinc.org

PLANO , Texas and VIENNA , Va. – EDS today announced a pair of contract renewals valued at $50 million for information technology (IT) and business process outsourcing services with Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS), the organization created by the mortgage banking industry to streamline the mortgage process by using electronic commerce to eliminate paper.

“We are working with EDS to move the mortgage industry toward a paperless environment by creating a universal system for electronic mortgage registrations and tracking of ownership,” said R.K. Arnold, president and CEO of MERS. “Our long relationship with EDS has helped us become an essential player in streamlining the mortgage process, and will help us develop new e-commerce markets in the future. Our goal is to register every mortgage loan in the U.S. on the MERS ® System.”

Scope of Services Includes Best Shore Delivery Strategy
The first agreement is a seven-year renewal for leveraged customer relationship management (CRM) services. This agreement takes advantage of EDS' Best Shore strategy to deliver cost effective contact center services from EDS' Nova Scotia-based center, giving MERS the scalability to reduce or expand support as business needs change, and pay only for services used. EDS' highly trained staff supports MERS members, title company agents, consumers and county recorders for mortgages registered on the MERS ® System. EDS also processes mail related to mortgage registrations in a center in the United States . This contract was signed in the first quarter and included in financial results announced on May 7.

Under terms of a separate seven-year renewal, which was signed in the fourth quarter of 2002 and included in 2002 earnings, EDS will continue to provide application maintenance and support for the MERS product portfolio from Adelaide, Australia, host MERS applications that are accessible to members via the Internet, and manage the networks that connect MERS members to these applications so they can access them via the Web and/or private frame relay circuits. EDS also added the capability to allow subscribing MERS members direct online access to their data on the MERS database for reports and analysis.

“We have made significant investments in our worldwide network of delivery capabilities to ensure that clients like MERS can remain scalable and competitive with access to high-quality, cost competitive contact center and applications development services,” said Paula Kruger, president of Customer Relationship Management for EDS.

Joint Goal to Reduce Paper in the Mortgage Process
EDS has provided IT services for MERS for more than six years, and has helped the organization revolutionize the mortgage industry by developing electronic tracking to eliminate the need to record assignments transferring the financial interests in mortgage loans among lenders. Use of MERS solutions enables lenders in the real estate finance industry to use electronic registration technology, which results in a more convenient consumer mortgage process and an average of $22 per loan cost savings for the loan originator. EDS' technology and scalability has enabled more than 17 million loans to be registered on the MERS ® System.

“This relationship brings together MERS' ability to focus on the business side of the mortgage industry while leveraging EDS' financial services industry, technology and busines