First Annual Supply Management Excellence Awards Recognize Best-Practice Elite; Sun Microsystems, BlueCross BlueShield, Bank of America, and The Boots Company Plc Recognized for Supply Management Innovation and Results.

ATLANTA -- -- Four of the industry's most innovative and effective supply management practitioners were recognized today in the first annual Supply Management Excellence Awards.

Announced today at Procuri Empower 2006, award-winners Sun Microsystems, BlueCross BlueShield of Florida, Inc., Bank of America and The Boots Company Plc, were recognized for demonstrating best-practices and achieving measurable results in strategic sourcing, contract management, supplier management, and overall supply management performance. These practices have delivered quantifiable value to the respective organizations, collectively saving hundreds of millions of dollars annually while improving compliance and performance, and reducing supply risk.

The winning companies were honored for successfully aligning supply strategies with corporate business objectives, standardizing processes and best practices enterprise-wide, collaborating across departments and with suppliers, measurably improving cost controls, performance, and processes; and continuously advancing supply management performance.

Best-Practices Leaders Hail from Every Industry

Today's Supply Management Excellence leaders include:

Sun Microsystems - Excellence in Strategic Sourcing: By improving its Worldwide Operations direct material procurement efficiency and effectiveness using Procuri TotalSource, Sun was able to exceed its savings goals in FY05 and FY06. With $2.1 billion in spend through TotalSource, Sun now has a sustainable platform to capitalize on institutionalized procurement knowledge, and to help ensure that teams apply repeatable, best-value strategies to both direct and indirect goods and services.

BlueCross BlueShield of Florida (BCBSFL) - Excellence in Contract Management: BCBSFL created a centralized and standardized workflow for managing over 150,000 provider contracts and over 10,000 enterprise contracts, transforming a process that was manually intensive into an efficient, automated and auditable procedure. Managing contracts electronically, the insurance leader has new ability to ensure enterprise-wide contract alignment, manage contract negotiations and renewals efficiently, and support contract compliance across multiple departments.

Bank of America - Excellence in Supplier Management: To support regulatory compliance, risk management, and supplier development initiatives, the leading financial institution is leveraging Procuri solutions/applications to automate and streamline supplier registration and qualification, enhance portfolio views of risk in the supplier base, and align, integrate and standardize process.

The Boots Company Plc - Overall Excellence in Supply Management: The United Kingdom's leading Health & Beauty retailer runs hundreds of sourcing projects each year for direct and indirect goods and services, achieving GBP 40 million in savings. Using Procuri TotalSource has also enabled Boots to improve process efficiency, increase sourcing volumes and throughput, reinforce sourcing best-practices, and successfully pursue low-cost country sourcing initiatives.

"Procuri applauds these four companies as leaders in their respective industries and for proving the crucial role that supply excellence plays in overall operational and financial success," said Mark Morel, president and CEO for Procuri. "These winners set the standard for realizing competitive advantage through supply management best-practices."

This year's judging panel was composed of seasoned supply management experts, including: Tim Cummins, president of the International Association for Contract and Commercial Management (IACCM); Doug Smock, co-author of Straight to the Bottom Line and former chief editor of Purchasing and Plastics World magazines; Jason Busch, managing partner of Azul Partners and founder of SpendMatters; and Tim Minahan of Procuri and former Chief Services Officer and Supply Management practice leader at the AberdeenGroup.

About Procuri Empower 2006

Rated as one of the best conferences in the industry by the attendees, Procuri Empower 2006 will feature keynote addresses by recognized executives, case study presentations from major corporations and panel discussions led by top experts in the field. The conference will provide attendees with a unique educational platform to learn about new solution developments, discuss common issues and build mutually profitable relationships. Speakers include Sun Microsystems, MeadWestvaco, Hess Corporation, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, US Steel, National City Bank, Alliant Tech Systems, KLM, McGraw-Hill and QUALCOMM. Empower 2006 will be held September 11-13 2006 at the InterContinental Atlanta. For more information or to attend Procuri Empower 2006, please visit www.procuri.com/empower or contact [e-mail].

About Procuri Inc.

Procuri leads the On Demand Supply Management industry with more than 325 customers of all sizes, industries, geographies and spend categories. Customers include Eastman Kodak, ITT Industries, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Newell Rubbermaid, Sun Microsystems and Toyota Motor Sales. Procuri's On Demand solutions for spend analysis, supplier management, strategic sourcing, contract management and compliance are comprehensive, cost effective and instantly available. For more information, call 1-877-360-1600 or visit www.procuri.com.

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