E-Bidding, E-Bonding Services Team Up to Save Contractors, DOTs Time and Money

Gainesville, Fla. – November 28, 2000: Surety 2000 Corp., a surety bonding e-commerce clearinghouse company, and Info Tech, Inc., an electronic bidding company, recently announced an agreement that will integrate electronic bid submission and bid bonding for the highway construction industry, increasing efficiency, accuracy and security in the bid letting process. This relationship is the first of its kind in the nation.

Electronic bonding of bids is really the last hurdle that contractors and transportation agencies were faced with as far as making the move to complete two-way Internet bidding. The new agreement will mean the end of contractors having to produce and turn in volumes of paperwork that include their bids and their bid and performance bonds when competing for a contract.

The new agreement will allow Bid Express, the electronic bidding service by Info Tech, Inc., to interact with Surety 2000 Bond Manager to quickly and securely verify bid and performance bonds associated with an electronic bid.

Contractors will receive a Surety 2000 Bond ID number from any licensed surety agent. Contractors download electronic bid files for a state transportation agency's letting from Bid Express, then use free bidding software downloaded from Bid Express to electronically fill in their bid information. A new screen will be added to the bidding software where the contractor can enter its Surety 2000 Bond ID number and verify its bond for that bid by connecting to Bid Express. Contractors can securely submit their electronic bids, complete with bond verifications, either by diskette or over the Internet using Bid Express.

Surety2000.com and Info Tech, Inc. officials hope to have the system ready for use by early 2001.

The new electronic bidding and bonding system benefits both the contractor and the transportation agency.

The contractor saves significant time and money by not having to travel to bid lettings or send large amounts of paperwork to the transportation agency. The electronic systems also increase the accuracy of the bid and bonds. The free bidding software from Bid Express has a built-in checking system, virtually eliminating the possibility of having a bid rejected due to an error.

The transportation agency receives each bid and bond electronically, saving them the time and costs associated with re-keying data. Because bond verifications are completed electronically before bid opening day, no time is wasted in the verification process.

Surety 2000 Corp., based in New York, developed and operates the Surety 2000 Bond Manager system. Surety 2000 Corp. is funded by the Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO), which is the leading source of information about property and liability risk. ISO provides statistical, actuarial, underwriting and claims information and analyses; consulting and technical services; policy language; and information about specific locations for a broad spectrum of commercial and personal lines of insurance. In the United States and around the world, ISO serves more than 2,900 insurers and reinsurers as well as agents, brokers, self-insureds, risk managers, insurance regulators and other government agencies. For more information about Surety 2000, contact John King, director of national programs at (877) 785-4277 or visit their website at www.surety2000.com.

Info Tech, Inc. is based in Gainesville, Fl. Info Tech, Inc. owns and operates the Bid Express Internet bidding service. The free bidding software downloaded from the Bid Express site – Expedite – was developed by Info Tech and is licensed through the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Info Tech provides customer-oriented, highly technical consulting, software development, systems integration and network communications services. For more information about Bid Express or the Expedite electronic bidding system, contact Joe Phelan, director of sales and customer support at (352) 381-4400 or visit their websites at www.infotechFL.com and www.bidx.com.

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Valerie Riley, APR
Info Tech, Inc.
(352) 381-4400
Media Contact Info