HUMC Hummingbird

Hummingbird announces three new UK customers for hosted eContract Management, boosting service, cost savings and compliance TORONTO and LONDON, UK, June 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Hummingbird Ltd. (NASDAQ:HUMCNASDAQ:TSX:NASDAQ:HUM), a leading global provider of integrated enterprise content management (ECM) and network connectivity solutions, today announced that its contracts management solution, Hummingbird Enterprise(TM) for Contract Management, has been approved by OGCbuying.solutions as part of its eSourcing solution available to all public sector organizations in the UK, and has immediately been selected by three major public sector institutions - the Department of Work and Pensions, the Crown Prosecution Service and Sussex Police. The eSourcing Managed Service, provided by BravoSolution, is part of OGCbuying.solutions' eProcurement Solutions Toolkit and will contribute to the pnds stlg 7 billion savings (approximately US$13 billion) required from procurement activities under the efficiency review by 2008. OGCbuying.solutions is the trading arm of the UK Office of Government Commerce (OGC) in HM Treasury, which provides public sector procurement professionals with a route to the products and services they need to maximize procurement efficiency and value for money. The hosted service will help in the creation of contracts, and will manage the contract post-signature, including the process of scheduling and renegotiation, reducing legal costs. Leveraging Hummingbird Enterprise for Contract Management, these organizations will also be able to work more collaboratively to take advantage of aggregated spend, as well as measuring supplier performance - qualitatively and quantitatively. The further challenge for public sector organizations of reducing risk in contract creation and ensuring compliance with regulations can now be managed electronically. "Poor contract management not only impacts performance and compliance, but can mean crucial public services being cut off, severely affecting citizens' welfare," said Jane Moorhouse, director of managed services at OGCbuying.solutions "Effective electronic contract management, however, is a central element to eProcurement, a key government objective in cutting costs and passing those savings back to the public. Hummingbird's willingness to work with us on delivering a hosted solution was an important part in our selection, as well as its keen understanding of the specific challenges facing public sector organizations in the contract management process." "Working with OGCbuying.solutions gives us the opportunity to help create a more efficient eProcurement offering across the public sector, at local and central government levels," said Nader Sabbaghian, managing director of BravoSolution. "Hummingbird is an important partner for us, with a lot of good experience in this sector. Moreover, Hummingbird Enterprise for Contract Management has the flexibility and robustness we need to deliver a solution that can manage both the content and storage processes, as well as data analysis." Hummingbird's contract management solution is designed to be used by both specialist purchasing and procurement officers within the public sector, and people working with suppliers in any way. Users can draft and review new contracts in a collaborative workspace and access management reports and alerts to milestones and necessary actions in the lifecycle of a contract. "Our pedigree within the public sector gives us a good understanding of the key initiatives and demands on organizations, which are driving ways of working. This announcement represents the next phase in satisfying the requirements of our government customers. Our philosophy of listening to clients and providing solutions that fit their needs, means that we were able to deliver the eContract Management solution they required," said Tony Heywood, Senior Vice President for EMEA, Hummingbird Ltd. "A contract is not just the terms and conditions of pricing of a service, but the means to measure and monitor the delivery and quality of that service. OGCbuying.solutions has recognized that technology can help not only with contract creation, but also administration and compliance." About OGCbuying.solutions OGCbuying.solutions is the trading arm of the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), which is itself an office of HM Treasury. OGC was launched on 1 April 2000 as a result of a review of civil procurement in Central Government. Its aim is to achieve substantial value for money improvements in the Government's procurement budget and to oversee and implement the Government's wider Efficiency Review across the entire public sector. OGCbuying.solutions, launched in April 2001, provides public sector procurement professionals with a route to the products and services they need to maximise procurement efficiency and value for money. Its contracts and framework agreements offer substantial savings through significant buying power, economies of scale and strategic partnerships. Once again, these savings are counted towards the Efficiency Review target. Rigorous tendering and evaluation processes ensure that products and services are checked for quality, price competitiveness, fitness for purpose and compliance with statutory requirements. These products and services are available through OGCbuying.solutions Catalist framework agreements and Managed Services. The Catalist brand is designed to unify the framework agreements under one identifiable and recognisable brand name. Catalist incorporates a series of framework agreements which have been developed to offer our customers a broad range of goods and services aligned to their particular needs. Managed Services are predominantly more sophisticated, requiring expertise and additional support from OGCbuying.solutions. For more information visit the organisation's website http://www.ogcbuyingsolutions.gov.uk/ About BravoSolution BravoSolution is one of Europe's leading providers of internet-based procurement tools and professional services. The company supports its clients in the improvement of their procurement processes through innovative web-based technologies and services. BravoSolution has office locations in France, Italy, Spain and United Kingdom with a steadily growing team of over 200 professionals. For more information visit the company website http://www.bravosolution.com/ About Hummingbird Enterprise(TM) Hummingbird Enterprise provides an integrated platform for enterprise content management that provides global organizations with solutions to manage business interaction information such as documents, records, virtual deal room exchanges, discussions, e-mail or financial data - linking business processes, information and people. Hummingbird solutions are designed as modular applications that are fully interoperable with each other, enabling customers to incrementally build an enterprise content management solution to meet their evolving information needs in a cost effective manner. About Hummingbird Hummingbird Ltd. (NASDAQ:HUMCNASDAQ:TSX:NASDAQ:HUM) is a leading global provider of enterprise software solutions. The Company's enterprise software solutions fall into two principal categories: enterprise content management (ECM) solutions, and network connectivity solutions. Hummingbird's ECM solutions enable organizations to manage the lifecycle of enterprise content from creation to disposition, thereby enabling organizations to address critical business needs, such as information management, business continuity, compliance and risk mitigation. The network connectivity solutions provide a comprehensive set of core network technologies that enables the enterprise to connect to any type of legacy system. Founded in 1984, Hummingbird employs over 1,400 people and serves more than 33,000 customers, including 90% of Fortune 100. Hummingbird solutions are sold directly from 40 offices worldwide and through an Alliance Network of partners and resellers. For more information, visit http://www.hummingbird.com/ DATASOURCE: Hummingbird Ltd. CONTACT: Dan Coombes, Director, Investor Relations, Hummingbird Ltd., Tel: (416) 496-2200 ext. 6359, ; Michele Stevenson, Senior Manager, Corporate Communications, Hummingbird Ltd., Tel: (416) 496-2200 ext. 2623, ; UK Press contacts: Ali Merifield, Bite Communications, Tel: 020 8834 3441, Email: ; Ian Capon, Hummingbird, Tel: 020 7093 0444, Email: ; To request a free copy of this organization's annual report, please go to http://www.newswire.ca/ and click on Tools for Investors.

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