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August 30, 1999

More Leads For Supplies

Web site helps users solicit bids for products

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Windows Open for E-business

InternetWeek In Focus: E-Commerce Outsourcing
fledgling Web site hopes to carve out a niche in the online procurement arena by helping small companies find new sources of important supplies.

The site, rfpMarket.com, lets companies seeking a particular product or service anonymously list their request for proposals on its Web site, which has areas for specific vertical industries such as computers, manufacturing, and construction. RfpMarket.com then tries to find suppliers willing to compete for that business and forwards the leads via E-mail to the buyer. That's similar to the lead-generation service pioneered by VerticalNet Inc., which operates dozens of Web sites where buyers and sellers in highly specific industries can interact and conduct online auctions.

CEO John Immel says rfpMarket. com is going after smaller companies, and that he doesn't plan to follow VerticalNet by hosting auctions and other transactions. Immel, who plans to charge suppliers to participate in the service, says a lot of the traffic on the site since it went live in early August has been generated by technology consulting firms putting jobs out for bid. But he's also attracting business in areas such as manufacturing.

Product Development Innovations LLC, a Dresden, Maine, maker of digital power meters, used rfpMarket.com to solicit bids for $165,000 worth of electrical transformers. The company has received two replies but hasn't decided where it will buy the components. Company principal Joe Atkinson says even if the service doesn't yield a winning bid, it's a useful experiment.

The service, says Atkinson, "is a useful tool for getting maximum avenues of opportunity."

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