January 27, 2005

The State of Ohio is utilizing a web-based technology to increase the exposure of procurement opportunities to potential suppliers, in the process saving taxpayer's money, while at the same time leveling the playing field for local businesses interested in working with the State.

To accomplish this task the Ohio Department of Administrative Services (ODAS) chose the DemandStar e-procurement system offered by Seattle-based Onvia (Nasdaq:ONVI), www.onvia.com, currently used by hundreds of agencies across the United States.

ODAS will use DemandStar by Onvia as an additional resource to distribute automatic procurement opportunity notifications to all interested businesses, saving staff time and taxpayer dollars.

Historically, government purchasing professionals had to create databases of potential bidders based on past bids, copy lengthy bid documents, and hand mail them to potential suppliers.

Today, with DemandStar, the State of Ohio notifies all interested suppliers via email or fax when a bid opportunity is available. This service is free to all suppliers.

"DemandStar by Onvia is a great fit for the State of Ohio," said Mike Pickett, CEO of Onvia. "DemandStar will help businesses win contracts in Ohio no matter what their size while helping the State of Ohio broaden its vendor base, purchase at competitive prices and save taxpayer dollars."

Suppliers already registered with the State of Ohio will continue to receive electronic notifications of Ohio's procurement opportunities.

The DemandStar network was created in 1996 by procurement professionals in Florida looking to leverage technology to improve government effectiveness.

Onvia acquired DemandStar in 2001 and has grown the network to over 480 government agencies in 37 states that enter bids and quotes directly into the DemandStar system, and more than 50,000 business suppliers who receive bids from over 45,000 local, municipal, state and federal government purchasing offices.

Each month, Onvia publishes over 50,000 new business opportunities in over 200 business categories across the country. In addition to the free notification from the State of Ohio, businesses can purchase a subscription to access all opportunities in their region, state or the entire nation.

Source: Onvia