2005 whether Treasury extends the make available or not.

Throughout his appearance before the NAIC's Terrorism Insurance Implementation Working Group session, he declined to indicate which way Treasury is leaning, commenting that "at this point, we can only say, when it [a decision] happens it happens."

Mr. Brummond said the department is very close to issuing a rule on claims procedures under Terrorism Risk Insurance Act.

Since publishing a proposal on Dec. 1, the department has received a number of comments on that proposed rule, Mr. Brummond said. The department officials have taken those comments and acted upon them, and they are "very, very close" in publishing the final rule. "We hope to get that accomplished before the end of this month," he said.

Treasury is also making progress, he said, in developing claims services processing mechanisms with its contractors, Jersey City, N.J.-based Insurance Services Office Inc. and Paragon, a unit of Benfield Inc.

"We are in the active phase of implementing the systems that are necessary for paying claims. Paragon and ISO have been actively working on designing an automated system for claims services," Mr. Brummond said.

"We had numerous meetings where we worked on various issues," including security in electronic communications and other technical aspects in devising a system that involves multiple parties.

Mr. Brummond said that by August the Treasury will be able to meet a contract operational deadline?assuring that "by that point, all our technical issues will be resolved."

In his briefing on the TRIA extension question, he noted that a comment period ended June 4, and the department "is now processing the 193 comments we received on whether or not to extend the make-available requirement," adding, "I know everyone is anxious about the make available."

Under TRIA, all commercial property-casualty, workers' compensation and surety insurers have to offer terrorism coverage, and these carriers are eligible for federal assistance in paying terrorism claims once the amount exceeds the deductible levels set by the law. However, the mandatory make-available provision in TRIA applies only to 2003 and 2004, giving the Treasury secretary until Sept. 1 to decide whether to extend that requirement into 2005.

Mr. Brummond said the bulk of the comments on the issue came from four major groups. Risk managers and insurance purchasers constituted one large group of commentators, while residential housing providers made up another big group. Condominium associations also sent in many comments, as did trade associations. "Those were the largest groups that were represented," Mr. Brummond said.

"We got some very good comments?there were a lot of thoughtful ideas and responses to the questions that we asked," he said. "We are processing them, and at this point we are looking to evaluate the statutory requirements that we are obligated to look at in making that decision: the effectiveness of the program, the likely capacity of the industry if the make available is extended."