Bank of America N.A. and NIC Commerce are forming a new company
that will offer state and local government agencies online procurement,
purchasing, payment and reconciliation services.
The venture, called Banc of America Purchase Street LLC, will offer Web-based
solutions to integrate various shopping and payment functions for the public
sector.
Through the new company, state and local governments will be able to place
orders online with their preferred suppliers, request a quote from businesses
for services, process transactions, initiate payments and reconcile
transactions.
Government agencies also will be able to personalize their services to reflect
preferred suppliers, contract requirements and other conditions through the
browser-based catalog, Purchase Street said.
Separately, Bank of America N.A. entered into a contract to provide, with the
assistance of NIC Commerce, electronic procurement services to the
Houston-Galveston Area Council of Governments (H-GAC) through December 2005.
The H-GAC Cooperative Purchasing program helps more than 1,100 local
governments purchase more than $150 million annually in products such as fire
apparatus, cars and light trucks, radios, earth moving equipment, heavy
trucks and related services.
Under the agreement with H-GAC, Bank of America will provide payment and
other financial services as well as related support services. NIC Commerce
will provide electronic procurement software, manage catalog content and
secure software server hosting services. Financial arrangements were not
disclosed.
Bank of America Corp.,
with $656 billion in assets, is the largest commercial
banking company in the United States. NIC Commerce provides e-commerce
solutions for streamlining public sector procurement. It is a wholly owned
subsidiary of NIC (EGOV), an e-government solutions
provider.