Arch Coal, Inc. Selects BayBuilder Reverse Auction Platform for Procurement Savings.

Business Editors

BOCA RATON, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 7, 2000

Nation's second-largest coal producer makes strategic move with

B2B initiative

BayBuilder(TM), the leading Internet procurement price negotiation tool provider, today announced that Arch Coal, Inc. (NYSE:ACI), the nation's second largest coal producer, has selected the BayBuilder Reverse Auction for Procurement(TM) Platform to create global economies of scale and supply chain efficiencies with its suppliers and trading partners via the Internet.

Arch Coal will use the BayBuilder Reverse Auction for Procurement solution to manage a substantial portion of its worldwide purchases from thousands of suppliers. BayBuilder's service will enable Arch Coal to efficiently aggregate its enterprise-wide spending on direct and indirect goods and services using the Internet, resulting in time and cost savings and a fast return on investment. With roughly 120 million tons of production annually, Arch Coal supplies approximately one-tenth of America's total coal supply.

This agreement with BayBuilder furthers Arch Coal's position as an E-Commerce innovator in the mining industry and demonstrates BayBuilder's continued customer growth with the nation's most prominent companies.

"Arch Coal, Inc. sees our BayBuilder relationship as an integral part of our next-generation supply chain initiative," said Darrel May, Arch Coal's Director of Materials Management. "BayBuilder's `Total Cost Auction' functionality is a powerful tool that will add immediate value to our purchasing process. This transaction will support Arch's lasting commitment to our trading partners and to operational efficiency. Our BayBuilder-driven procurement technology will allow Arch Coal and our network of suppliers to positively impact transactional costs and fulfill our mutual objectives."

Said BayBuilder president and CEO Abu Rahman, "BayBuilder will help Arch Coal realize significant advantages over its current procurement process without disrupting its established business practice. Arch's purchasing professionals will immediately seize the benefits of integrated reverse auctions, which account for more return on investment than any other E-Procurement initiative. BayBuilder's solution will allow Arch Coal to use this important tool immediately, without relinquishing project momentum to an extended and expensive IT implementation process."

"With BayBuilder, Arch Coal and its business segments are leveraging the best parts of Internet-enabled purchase negotiation so that both buyers and suppliers will benefit from increased economies of scale and the network effect," added Mike Trader, vice president of North American sales at BayBuilder. "Our top priority is helping Arch Coal achieve the most important advantages of B2B E-Commerce by positively impacting their bottom line."

The BayBuilder Reverse Auction for Procurement(TM) Platform helps companies realize greater economies of scale and commerce process efficiencies, resulting in lower costs and competitive advantage without deploying potentially time-intensive and expensive internal IT resources. The BayBuilder Reverse Auction for Procurement solution and service will provide Arch Coal with a B2B E-Commerce infrastructure that electronically aggregates suppliers across many areas of direct and indirect goods and services purchasing to allow bidding events with full information transfer, dynamic content and multi-dimensional quotation factors.

Because BayBuilder solutions are delivered in an ASP format and snap-on to Arch Coal's existing system infrastructure, the initial rollout of the BayBuilder solution at Arch Coal has been completed in less than 3 business days.

About Arch Coal, Inc.

Arch Coal is the nation's second largest coal producer, with subsidiary operations in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah. Through these operations, Arch Coal provides the fuel for approximately 6% of the electricity generated in the United States. The company operates mining complexes in six states and three major coal-producing basins. In 1999, Arch shipped its products to 140 power plants operated by 68 utilities in 30 states. In addition, Arch exported coal to utility and industrial customers in 10 foreign countries. Arch Coal is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ACI. The company's corporate headquarters are located in St. Louis, Missouri.

About BayBuilder

BayBuilder is the leading provider of B2B and B2G services for purchasing price negotiation to prominent enterprises around the world. BayBuilder delivers a fully hosted and supported, front end, best-of-breed platform so clients can take advantage of the most value-added tool in corporate purchasing: reverse auctions that electronically enable suppliers to compete for business online. BayBuilder can be contacted in the U.S. at 888.516.2297 or at www.baybuilder.com.