The Blue Book of Building and Construction Enlists with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

JEFFERSON VALLEY, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 1, 2001--The Blue Book of Building and Construction has established a strategic alliance with the United States Army Corps of Engineers in an effort to promote and centralize General Contract bid solicitations in their 42 districts across the country.

Unlike traditional project news reporting services, The Blue Book's BidScope is a free service allowing vendors to find local and regional projects targeted to their specific trade. To access BidScope simply register for BB-Bid, The Blue Book's free web-based bid and procurement system, at thebluebook.com home page.

BB-Bid enables users to build and maintain a preferred vendor list to message ``Invitations to Bid'' and ``Requests for Quote'' via email, fax, or in-network. At the point of messaging, the user can choose to promote a project through BidScope- for soliciting additional prices outside their preferred list to targeted BB-Bid network vendors.

Through an XML program, The Blue Book will be able to search each of the U.S. Army Corps.' 42 district websites and extract General Contract bid solicitations. The information will then be organized and promoted in BidScope under the appropriate regional category. General Contractors, after viewing the bid solicitation, can use BB-Bid to quickly assign and message vendors to secure prices on services, materials and/or equipment to help prepare their bid for that project.

``The Blue Book is very excited to work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,'' said Ed Haege, BB-Bid Product Manager. ``General Contractors registered in the BB-Bid network can now easily locate Army Corps projects anywhere in the country through BidScope. These project leads will not only provide great opportunities for our General Contractors, they will benefit our subcontractors and suppliers as well. The BB-Bid network positions these vendors for invitation by the GCs to submit bids for their specific trade.''

For more information on this alliance, please contact Ed Haege at 800-431-2584, ext. 307 or ehaege@thebluebook.com.

About The Blue Book...
The Blue Book of Building and Construction offers the most comprehensive database of regional directories in the construction industry. With over 1,000,000 pre-qualified company listings, it is the most accurate, up-to-date source of contractors, suppliers and service providers working within the construction and facility management industries. This year, nearly 600,000 copies were distributed free of charge to buyers and specifiers of construction-related products and services throughout the U.S.

BB-Bid, the industry's first online bidding, communication and procurement tool, was released in 1999 and is available free of charge at thebluebook.com. An extremely user-friendly and comprehensive application, BB-Bid provides unlimited access to The Blue Book's pre-qualified vendor database. BB-Bid offers construction professionals a more efficient, functional and profitable tool for doing business online.

SOURCE: The Blue Book of Building and Construction