Small Business Administration selects Corio for enterprise financial application Corio applications on demand(TM) named "best-value" for government agency.

Corio, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRIO), an enterprise application service provider, has announced that it has signed a multi-year agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to provide infrastructure, applications management and system upgrade services for their financial systems. Corio has also signed a subcontract with small business partner, Parker Management Consultants, Ltd. (PMC) to deliver training and support for Corio Applications on Demand, an end-to-end enterprise application management solution available for a fixed monthly fee.

Since its founding in 1953, the U.S. Small Business Administration has delivered over 20 million loans, loan guarantees, contracts, counseling sessions and other forms of assistance to small businesses. SBA's programs include financial and federal contract procurement assistance, management assistance, and specialized outreach to women, minorities and armed forces veterans. The SBA also provides loans to victims of natural disasters and specialized advice and assistance in international trade.

The SBA is a significant addition to Corio's growing list of US Federal Government customers, which include the US Navy, the US Department of Treasury and the US Coast Guard. Corio Applications on Demand(TM) delivers enterprise applications from leading independent software vendors as a service that scales to meet changing requirements. Organizations gain the operational efficiency of a variable cost structure while maintaining the predictability of a fixed price contract for base services.

"The Small Business Administration determined that Corio represented the best value to the government for this critical Federal Financials cross-servicing project," said Tom Dumaresq, chief financial officer at SBA. "We look forward to deploying the commercial and federal applications management best practices and experience that Corio brings."

"On demand applications management services improve operational efficiency and reduce the cost of enterprise computing," said Keith Angell, senior vice president of worldwide sales at Corio. "We are excited to have the SBA join our expanding list of Government customers."