BUSINESS IN BRIEFS

Bid4Assets announced it will auction real estate in Hawaii that was seized by the U.S. Marshals Service in a criminal drug case. Bid4Assets has conducted more than a dozen successful asset sales for the U.S. Marshals Service, including the sale of 45 acres of land in South Carolina in January.

Bid4Assets is auctioning two separate 10-acre tracts of land located in Kamuela, Hawaii. The land is in a subdivision known as Waiki'i Ranch, a rural area of the Big Island. The subdivision is surrounded by the Parker Ranch, one of the largest cattle operations in the United States.Otto Guenther, the Army's first chief information officer, has left software vendor Computer Associates International Inc. after three-and-a-half years. As a three-star general, Guenther served as the Army's director of information systems for command, control, communications and computers from 1995-1997.

Guenther joined CA in August 1997 as director of strategic initiatives, and he formed the company's federal systems group in April 2000 after CA purchased Sterling Software Inc. and Applied Management Systems Inc.

An industry source familiar with the matter said that Guenther left the company because he was frustrated about not having all of CA's public-sector business and related operations under his direction.Epipeline, the developer of a leading online research service for federal government contractors, announced it has completed the final phase of its Series B round of financing with a $4.5 million equity investment from a group of institutional investors. This new investment brings the total raised in epipeline's Series B round to $8.7 million. The company launched its service in October 2000 and has more than 500 subscribers, including top federal contractors.

The Series B round was led by PTEK Ventures and Crossbow Ventures, with participation from Robinson Humphrey's Netlanta Fund, Sun Trust Equitable Securities' Union Street Partners, MRW Capital and Alston Gardner of Fulcrum Ventures.

The latest financing increases the total capital raised since epipeline's inception to more than $13 million.

The company also appointed Greg Lewis as president and chief executive officer. Lewis brings more than 30 years of professional experience in operational execution and leadership at the senior executive level. He most recently served as president and CEO of U.S. operations for IVI Checkmate Corp., where he led the company to become North America's third-largest electronic transaction solutions provider.Onvia.com Inc. announced its acquisition of DemandStar.com Inc., a leading provider of business-to-government e-commerce solutions, has been completed. As a result of the merger, Onvia and DemandStar will have a stronger presence in a wider range of regional markets across the country.

Onvia brings financial and marketing resources, access to small businesses in its exchange, government experience, technology expertise and a national network of small business associations. DemandStar brings a proven B2G platform, a rapidly growing group of more than 270 government agencies, nearly 17,000 subscribing suppliers and a national sales force serving the U.S. market from locations in more than 22 states.Way2Bid announced that members of its Way2Bid Exchange, an online purchasing marketplace for public-sector buyers and vendors, will soon benefit from increased sealed bidding options based on the company's patent-pending sealed bid technology.

The new technology will build on the locked bid function on the Way2Bid Exchange. Members of the exchange will be able to create sealed bids, open bids and blind bids on the system.

The technology, developed for Way2Bid by Oracle Corp. as part of the Oracle Exchange platform, will enable buyers on the Way2Bid Exchange to determine who has access to view submitted bids, a necessary element of purchasing in the public sector.

These business briefs are composed of selected excerpts from the BB&T Capital Markets publication, "A&D/B2G/B2E/G2C Weekly Review," written by Thomas Meagher.