The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) awarded a contract to Institutional Risk Analytics (IRA) to supply commercially available financial ratings of banks, thrifts and holding companies. The Torrance, Calif.-based IRA is a unit of the Lord, Whalen LLC and provides ratings of US banks and public companies. The ratings it will provide to the SEC come from the IRA Bank Monitor, the firm’s performance and risk model of Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC)-insured financial institutions. The model includes a variety of financial tests, Basel II benchmarks, stress ratings and risk metrics. The contract award was made pursuant to solicitation SECHQ1-09-Q-9006 and is valued at $50,000 for the base year with four additional option years, each at $50,000. If the SEC decides to exercise all options on the contract, the total cost will be $250,000. IRA co-founder and managing director, Christopher Whalen, is a monthly contributor to HousingWire magazine. Write to Austin Kilgore.