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Waste News, the leading publication in the $84 billion U.S. waste generation and removal industry, today selected software provider Environmental Network International (ENI) to develop a private trade exchange that will cut buyer and seller procurement activity costs by up to 55%. The exchange will be available in first quarter 2002 as a value-added benefit to the more than 40,000 Waste News subscribers from the buyer and supplier community.
"Efficiency has long been a goal in the waste removal and disposal business," said Waste News Publisher Glen Stout. "Now thousands of generators, buyers and suppliers in our field will have the most efficient procurement and marketing tool available."
The online application will be available to all waste industry professionals via the Waste News website (www.wastenews.com). Registered buyers can take advantage of advanced search and communication capabilities for sourcing, pre-qualifying, and soliciting proposals/quotes from suppliers. Suppliers will have the opportunity to improve client service, as well as enhance their marketing and procurement-related communication.
The Waste News marketplace is one of several private trade exchanges developed by Massachusetts-based ENI. The software company also has developed customized, automated procurement systems for construction/environmental industry companies (www.eni-net.com) and water/wastewater utilities (www.efficientutilities.com).
"We're excited about the potential for procurement and sales cost reductions for buyers and suppliers in the waste industry," said ENI Founder Tully Ryan. "With substantial crossover among suppliers who service the broad environmental arena, our system provides a tool for improved communication and collaboration."
About Waste News
Part of the Crain Communications publishing group, Waste News is the only weekly tabloid
news publication in North America written specifically for decision-makers in the rapidly
changing solid-waste and recycling service and distribution system. The industry's largest
professional editorial staff covers legislative and regulatory activity, market pricing and
management issues that are essential to professionals who collect, transport, process,
dispose of and recover solid waste and recyclable materials. Circulation is 40,400.
About ENI
ENI is a software technology company delivering an easy to use, full-featured procurement
software application. The application is currently being used by business-to-business
procurement portals (ENI-Net.com and EfficientUtilities.com), and secure, customized
procurement platforms (IT Corporation, Earth Tech, Montgomery Watson, CH2MHill, Arcadis,
Roy F. Weston, etc) as well as thousands of suppliers. Unlike other exchanges, ENI charges
no commissions on the goods procured through the software. Suppliers pay a nominal
subscription fee, while buyers choosing customized or integrated solutions pay an annual
license. Suppliers that sign up have an opportunity to be accessed by more than 100,000
buyers in the construction, environmental, and utilities industries.
CONTACT: On September 21, the utility became the first North American water system to
conduct a public bid—sealed bid opening through the EfficientUtilities automated
procurement program. The private exchange allowed Denver Water to cut administrative
time on the public bid opening by more than 70 percent, while saving vendors time and
money associated with responding to the bid.
"Thanks to the buyers and the sellers who participated, this first public bid was a
real success story," said EfficientUtilities President Stephen Lewis. "The system allowed
users who weren’t technical gurus to save substantial time and money through
straightforward business automation."
"We wanted to see if the electronic process would work, so we strategically tested
it on a bid that, while important, was not for a core business product like pipe or
chemicals. Needless to say, the electronic process met all of our needs and our vendors
were pleased too," said Denver Water’s Director of Finance David LaFrance.
Using the EfficientUtilities system, Denver Water solicited three air-filter vendors
they had worked with in the past. Two were independent distributors and one was a
manufacturer’s distributor. Each vendor received a private e-mail notification alerting the
company to the request for quote and was able to respond in both electronic and paper
form.
The electronic RFQ allowed each vendor to see the request independently, print it
out for a worksheet, and privately enter and submit an electronic bid. After the vendor
entered unit prices, the EfficientUtilities system automatically calculated the bid total,
allowing the vendor to recheck bid totals prior to submitting them.
The EU system automatically notified Denver Water buyer Ron Wagner of the
source and time of the submitted bids, but no prices or other information was shown until
the actual time and date for the public bid opening. At 10 a.m. on September 21, the bids
electronically opened and were automatically placed side-by-side in an electronic bid
recap sheet. The process took less than one minute.
"I was skeptical about the ability for any electronic process to improve our current
system," Wagner said. "But now I’m convinced that this is better. Electronic is the way to
go."
The vendors said they appreciated both the system and the potential that
automated procurement programs create for improving their ability to serve customers.
Instead of spending valuable time driving to and from a manual public bid opening, sales
staff can take more time to build relationships, said H. Joe Newell, president of Air Force
Filter.
"EfficientUtilities could allow us to dramatically reduce windshield time spent on
public bid administrative procedures and focus more time on servicing our customers,"
Newell said.
From improved service to reduced time spent on bids, other vendors agreed on
the benefits. "I think e-commerce enhances our ability to respond to our clients because
it’s so much faster. It’s same-day service," said Patrick Fay, sales representative with
Allstate Filter Company. "This is the way to go because it’s so much quicker and simpler
for everyone involved," Fay said. "I used to be in purchasing, so I know what they go
through. Some of these things take hours or days. Here, it’s done in minutes. It saved us
all time."
Saving time is just one of the reasons Denver Water looked to automated
procurement, said LaFrance. Each aspect of the utility business—from purchasing to
authorizations to accounting—requires substantial time and resources.
"We reduced the time spent on the public bid opening and verification alone from
20 minutes or more with the paper-based system down to one minute using our
EfficientUtilities platform," LaFrance said.
Denver Water staff often needs to spend additional time tracking down the paper
bids, especially when they are delivered to the wrong building or sent to the wrong fax
machine. With the electronic bids, both the utility and its vendors get an electronic
verification that the bid was received.
"When you send in a bid electronically, you know it’s there," Lewis said. "If your
bid arrives at the wrong location and the utility doesn’t find it, or if you are driving your
bid to the bid opening and you get stuck behind a train or in traffic and miss the deadline,
the utility can’t consider your bid. You’re out of luck."
Both buyers and sellers attending the Denver Water public bid opening embraced
electronic procurement benefits. Because clients, sales, distribution, and the end users
share in the process efficiencies, Fay said he wished other organizations would start
"seeing the light."
"I just wish the state government had the EfficientUtilities platform," Fay said.
"When the state does bids, there are probably 250 pages of information. In an electronic
format, we can sort through it and respond much better. This is the way to go. No if’s,
and’s or but’s."
ENI's SupplierWorks application turns a desktop or laptop into an automated sales and marketing and administrative tool that streamlines the selling process. Providing suppliers a single source to submit company pre-qualifying data and tools to automate the selling activity and connect with buyers during the buying process. ENI's customized e-Procurement applications are used by buyers to streamline corporate procurement activities, including locating and pre-qualifying suppliers, soliciting information and proposals from targeted suppliers, receiving and reviewing proposals to routing purchasing orders and purchase requisitions saving between 22% and 50% on normal procurement activities.
"We are excited to work with an organization like the APWC who constantly seeks better ways to serve their members," said Kim Winslow, ENI Vice President Supplier Services. Winslow added, "With our SupplierWorks application suppliers of products, equipment and services will be easily accessed and utilized by over 100,000 buyers during critical stages of the procurement process." Fred Baragona, President of the APWC, stated, "The APWC strives to provide our members with effective tools and resources." "ENI's application allows us to provide an easy-to-use, cost effective and convenient format to improve the communication and collaboration with buyers during the selling process," Baragona added.
About APWC About ENI ENI's procurement platform is designed to connect Kleinfelder's Contracts Department
with suppliers of environmental goods and services. Kleinfelder's users will employ
the ENI on-line system to identify qualified suppliers and construct a Request for
Proposal (RFP) for electronic issuance to the suppliers. The customized portal will
also be used as a return highway for supplier responses, thereby streamlining the
procurement process while providing significant system savings to both Kleinfelder
and the supplier.
Kleinfelder early roll-out plans include a one-year pilot program with the ENI
system to secure qualified supplier bids for use on engineering and construction
contracts from both federal and commercial Clients.
Following a comprehensive review of available technology, ARCADIS Geraghty & Miller selected Environmental Network International (www.eni-net.com) to provide the cost-cutting procurement and automated pre-qualification program.
ENI-Net's Enterprise Procurement Center application is already being used by 100,000 registered buyers and more than 30% of the Engineering News Record (ENR) Top 20 Engineering Firms. Today’s announcement with Denver -based ARCADIS adds another engineering firm to that list.
“We needed a robust, flexible platform that could meet our needs for world-class procurement operations, across all of our divisions and operating locations” said John D’Antuono, ARCADIS Geraghty & Miller’s Corporate Contracts Manager. “ENI-Net's Enterprise Procurement Center application will allow us to gather crucial information about our suppliers worldwide, enabling our firm to work with them on a personal level."
“Our goal is to produce an offering that immediately improves our customers’ business and ensures that they remain at the forefront of innovation for this industry,” said Jay Fredkin, ENI-Net’s president and CEO. "We’re excited about bringing this comprehensive functionality to ARCADIS Geraghty & Miller and working in partnership to pioneer a new era of supplier interaction and business process efficiency.”
About ENI-Net
ENI-Net is a leading business-to-business e-marketplace for environmental and construction related products and services used by industrial, environmental and construction organizations worldwide. By leveraging its extensive products and services and supply chain management expertise with its exclusive supplier relationships and robust portfolio of e-procurement solutions, ENI-Net.com seeks to reduce customer procurement costs and increases user productivity. Additionally, ENI-Net seeks to provide suppliers a cost-effective sales and marketing channel. The company's e-procurement solutions are designed to bring value to both buyers and sellers, and can be customized and seamlessly integrated with their customer’s enterprise systems. ENI-Net is headquartered in Newton Centre, MA, with offices in Austin, Denver, Raleigh, and Gainesville. For more information about ENI and this service visit their web site at http://www.eni-net.com, or call 888/458-1409.
About ARCADIS Geraghty & Miller
ARCADIS Geraghty & Miller is an environmental and engineering services consulting firm, providing full-service capabilities within the environment and infrastructure sectors. Environmental capabilities include remediation and investigation, risk and associated services, real estate and asset solutions, facility compliance, and expert services. Infrastructure services include telecommunications, transportation, water and wastewater, solid waste, plants and buildings, and land resources.
ARCADIS Geraghty & Miller is the U.S.-based operations arm of ARCADIS NV (NASDAQ: ARCAF) (Arnhem, The Netherlands), a multi-national engineering company specializing in consulting and implementation services for environment, infrastructure, and construction engineering. Enhancing the sustainable quality of life through the services it provides, ARCADIS executes more than 10,000 environmental and infrastructure projects annually throughout the world. From more than 200 locations in 100 countries, we offer our clients access to the resources and problem-solving capabilities of a truly global organization.
Press Contacts: The American Water Works Association (AWWA) and ENI-Net today announced some of the early participants who will help shape the development of EfficientUtilities.com, an exchange for best-of-class utility buyers and suppliers in the $40 billion water and wastewater industry. The list includes buyers such as the City of Cleveland and the Washington (D.C.) Suburban Sanitation Commission and sellers including Griffin Pipe Products and Ferguson Enterprises.
"AWWA is intent upon promoting public health by helping utilities, contractors, and suppliers make the water/wastewater field become more efficient," said AWWA Executive Director Jack Hoffbuhr. "With collaboration from all facets of the water industry, EfficientUtilities.com will do just that."
As a partnership between AWWA and Boston-based ENI-Net, the neutral website will be developed with substantial input from two advisory groups from both sides of the procurement process: a Utility Advisory Committee and a Supplier Advisory Committee. In response to significant interest from industry professionals, the first Supplier Advisory Committee meeting will be held during the first week of February.
The site will bring buyers and sellers together confidentially and in a secure setting. Exchanges through EfficientUtilities.com will be conducted free of charge, according to established business practices and building upon existing relationships already benefiting the marketplace. Utilities surveyed have expressed appreciation for the service provided by various distributors and manufacturer representatives, and want to continue working with them through more efficient processes. The site will allow manufacturers and distributors in turn to streamline their communications with buyers and amongst each other.
"EfficientUtilities.com will improve efficiency for utilities and the existing supply chain without disrupting current sales channels," concluded Hoffbuhr.
For more information about EfficientUtilities.com visit the AWWA website
Over 50 organizations have expressed interest in using EfficientUtilities.com and/or participating on the Utility Advisory Committee or Supplier Advisory Committee. They include:
Rachel Ryder, 800/853-713
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November 2, 2001 - EfficientUtilities: First transaction pleases users
During the official kickoff of the EfficientUtilities automated procurement
system in September, Denver Water staff broke virtual ground. This time they aren’t
building a new water plant, but they are digging for the best ways possible to
collaborate and communicate with their vendors.
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October 9, 2001 - Newton Centre, MA – ENI Endorsed By Associated Prevailing Wage Contractors, Inc. (APWC)
ENI, the world's leading provider of environmental, construction, water and waste water e-Procurement application software, today announced an endorsement from the Associated Prevailing Wage Contractors, Inc. (APWC) a nonprofit, nonpartisan, professional organization that provides members with a single source for information on fringe benefit plans, compliance assistance, construction industry legislation, and other issues associated with projects built (or maintained) under the Davis-Bacon Act and Service Contract Act. In a move designed to serve members at a time when corporate budgets have been cut, APWC is endorsing ENI to provide its members with its SupplierWorks application, a targeted and cost-effective sales and marketing and administrative application.
Associated Prevailing Wage Contractors, Inc. (APWC) is a national nonprofit association designed to serve the needs of professionals in the construction and service industry who participate in federal, state and local projects covered by prevailing wage and service contract laws. http://www.apwc.org
ENI is a software technology company delivering an easy to use, full-featured procurement software application. The application, delivered by the Internet, is currently being used by business-to-business procurement portals (ENI-Net.com and EfficientUtilities.com), and secure, customized procurement platforms (IT Corporation, Earth Tech, Montgomery Watson, CH2MHill, Arcadis, Roy F. Weston, etc) as well as thousands of suppliers. ENI has established itself as a leader in providing neutral procurement solutions to the engineering, construction, environmental, architectural, utilities (water & waste water) and related industries. http://www.eni-net.com
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July 27, 2001 – Kleinfelder, Inc. Selects ENI's Procurement Platform
Kleinfelder, a geotechnical, environmental, materials testing, and construction
management firm with approximately 1500 employees and 60 offices in the Western
U. S. announced today that it will conduct a pilot program within its federal
program using Environmental Network International, Inc. (ENI) as the provider
of its intranet-based customized procurement portal.
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March 21, 2001 - Newton Centre, MA - ARCADIS Geraghty & Miller selects ENI-Net for Enterprise-Wide Procurement Solution
ARCADIS, Geraghty & Miller, a national engineering and environmental services firm with more than 1,800 employees, today announced that it will implement a new web-based procurement program that will streamline operations and cut procurement activity costs as much as 55%.
Tully Ryan, ENI-Net, 800-853-7130, tryan@eni-net.com
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January 22, 2001 - Denver, Colorado - AWWA E-marketplace gets name, garners widespread industry support
EfficientUtilities.Com To Modernize Water Industry Procurement
The American Water Works Association and its 57,000 members work to assure a safe, sufficient supply of drinking water for the people of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The group leads efforts to advance the science, technology, consumer awareness, management, conservation, and government policies related to drinking water. For additional information please contact Doug Marsano at (303) 347-6138, or visit our Web site at www.awwa.org.
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