A.T. Kearney Procurement Solutions and Austin-Tetra Formalize Partnership for Supplier Content and Diagnostic Services

Best-in-Class Content Database Provides Clients with Swift Access to Detailed Supplier Information

CHICAGO, Illinois (August 12, 2004) – A.T. Kearney Procurement Solutions, the sourcing technologies and services unit of A.T. Kearney, a global management consulting firm, and Austin-Tetra, a leader in supplier intelligence for the global supplier and sourcing market, today announce that they have signed a long-term contract for enhanced supplier content and enterprise spend diagnostic services. The contract provides A.T. Kearney Procurement Solutions clients with access to the most robust intelligence on global suppliers available through comprehensive supplier information provided by Austin-Tetra, including business demographics, corporate ownership, product and service categorization, socioeconomic information, and business risk analysis.

“This partnership enables us to provide our customers with the best information available on each of their incumbent or prospective suppliers,” says Joseph Raudabaugh, President of A.T. Kearney Procurement Solutions. “The detailed content provided by Austin-Tetra is unsurpassed in the industry. It enhances the spend analysis functionality already available in our suite of services and technologies, providing faster access to more comprehensive information on global suppliers.”

“We are delighted to be working with A.T. Kearney Procurement Solutions,” says Phil Berkebile, President and CEO, Austin-Tetra. “Merging the industry-leading service and technologies of A.T. Kearney Procurement Solutions with the leading-edge content and diagnostic services of Austin-Tetra provides exponential value to our respective customers. We share a common goal of providing our clients with better spend management and analysis information, detailed insight into enterprise-wide supplier initiatives, as well as the most robust supplier information available today for strategic sourcing projects.”

A.T. Kearney Procurement Solutions teams, working directly with Austin-Tetra's best-in-class content and service team, will provide clients with spend analysis and supplier insight as a part of their strategic sourcing and accelerated sourcing services. They will work with customers to ensure the right tools and content are deployed to improve the long-term value of the sourcing activities. Initial joint clients for this partnership include a Fortune 1000 customer as well as a leading public sector customer.

About A.T. Kearney Procurement Solutions
A.T. Kearney Procurement Solutions (www.atkearneyprocurementsolutions.com) provides comprehensive strategic procurement services to clients with needs that range from tactical cost savings to outsourced strategic sourcing services to complete procurement transformation. A.T. Kearney Procurement Solutions augments the strategic sourcing expertise of A.T. Kearney (www.atkearney.com), one of the world's largest and fastest-growing management consulting firms. With a global presence that includes more than 60 offices in 37 countries, spanning major and emerging markets, A.T. Kearney provides strategic, operational, organizational and technology consulting and executive search services to the world's leading companies. A.T. Kearney is the high-value management consulting subsidiary of global services leader EDS.

About Austin-Tetra, Inc.
With headquarters in Irving, Texas, Austin-Tetra has been a leader in supplier intelligence for over 10 years and offers the most comprehensive supplier information in the market ranging from business description and corporate linkage to organizational size and creditworthiness. The company sells business information services into the global supply chain management and strategic sourcing markets. Austin-Tetra's coverage includes over 20 million U.S. businesses and more than 30 million foreign companies. Its solutions validate, enhance and enrich information on existing suppliers and identify potential new suppliers. Company services provide customers with enterprise-wide visibility into their supply base enabling thorough analysis to help mitigate supplier risk and to leverage buying power to reduce supply costs. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.austintetra.com.

# # #