City of Berkeley Joins the DemandStar by Onvia Network, Saving Taxpayers Money; City Streamlines Procurement Process with Online Service

Business Wire, Jan 21, 2005

SEATTLE -- Local governments in California are utilizing a web-based technology to purchase goods and services -- saving taxpayers money and leveling the playing field for local businesses interested in working with the city of Berkeley. Recently, the City of Berkeley started using the DemandStar e-procurement system offered by Seattle-based Onvia (Nasdaq:ONVI), www.onvia.com, currently used by hundreds of agencies across the United States. Now the city can post its bids and requests for quotes online, saving staff time and reducing purchasing costs.

Historically, government purchasing professionals had to create databases of potential bidders based on past bids, copy lengthy bid documents, and hand mail them to potential suppliers. Today, with DemandStar, the City of Berkeley notifies all interested suppliers via email or fax when a bid opportunity is available. This service is free to all suppliers.

"DemandStar by Onvia is good for both government agencies like the City of Berkeley and for small business," said Mike Pickett, CEO of Onvia. "By creating more competition, government agencies purchase at competitive prices, save taxpayer dollars and allow all businesses to compete for orders and projects, no matter what their size."

Suppliers interested in receiving their Berkeley notices should call DemandStar at 800-331-5610 to register.

The DemandStar network was created in 1996 by procurement professionals in Florida looking to leverage technology to improve government effectiveness. Onvia acquired DemandStar in 2001 and has grown the network to over 500 government agencies in 37 states that enter bids and quotes directly into the DemandStar system, and more than 50,000 business suppliers who receive bids from over 45,000 local, municipal, state and federal government purchasing offices. Each month, Onvia publishes over 50,000 new business opportunities in over 200 business categories across the country. In addition to the free notification from the City of Berkeley, businesses can purchase a subscription to access all opportunities in their region, state or the entire nation.

About Onvia:

Onvia is a business-to-government (B2G) company that helps businesses secure government contracts and government agencies find suppliers online. Onvia's two products, the Onvia Guide and DemandStar, provide electronic notification of government opportunities to businesses in a variety of industries. Onvia trades on the NASDAQ National Market (ONVI). For more information about Onvia's products and services, please visit www.onvia.com.

This release contains, in addition to historical information, forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Some statements are based on current expectations or beliefs and involve risks and uncertainties.

For a detailed discussion of our safe harbor statements, please refer to Onvia's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) including Onvia's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003 and Onvia's Proxy Statement filed with the SEC on May 13, 2004.