Navy Awards eBreviate $13.8 Million Deal for Online Auctions

eBreviate Inc. won a five year, $13.8 million contract to provide Web-based auction services to the Navy, the company said Dec. 11. It is the year-old firm's largest contract award to date.

EBreviate of Walnut Creek, Calif., is a wholly owned subsidiary of systems integrator Electronic Data Systems Corp. of Plano, Texas. The eBreviate contract closely follows a separate $6.9 billion Navy award to EDS to streamline and improve information technology services for the Navy and Marine Corps.

EBreviate will supply software, technology and Web hosting, as well as the services of its managers, to conduct more than a dozen reverse and forward auctions per month. Primary users of the auctions will be Navy customers served by the Naval Supply Systems Command; however, other federal agencies and divisions of the Defense Department may use the contract.

Reverse auctions are auctions in which contractors seeking to sell products to the Navy bid down their prices.

With eBreviate's auction tools, the Navy expects to reduce procurement lead times, bottom-line costs and the inefficiencies of traditional supplier identification techniques across its entire purchasing operation.

The company said it won the Navy contract because of its record of providing commercially available, secure, easy to use, large-volume auctions and established training procedures for suppliers and buyers. eBreviate's ability to provide technical assistance before and during auction events was also a factor in the Navy's decision.

"Our ... solution has repeatedly provided dramatic savings of time and money to purchasing professionals, and now, for the first time, the American taxpayer will benefit from similar savings," said Sarah Pfaff, eBreviate executive vice president of sales, marketing and strategy.