Recent FreeBalance Inc. Press Clippings (Full Articles Attached)

"PWC Wins Medicare Accounting System Deal"

by Gail Repsher Emery, Washington Technology (September 27, 2001)

"GSA adds FreeBalance" by Dan Caterinicchia, Federal Computer Week (September 27, 2001)

"10 Companies to Watch"

by Graeme Browning, Federal Computer Week (September 17, 2001)

“IT Services Used To Help Rebuild War-Torn Nations” by Clinton Wilder, InformationWeek (July 9, 2001)

“First e-government steps for Kosovo”

Kable's Electronic Government International (July 3, 2001)

“Brave Campaign“ by Alex Graham, Silicon Valley North (July, 2001)

“FreeBalance secures P2P deal”

by Dan Caterinicchia, Federal Computer Week (May 23, 2001)

“FreeBalance tool helps grant process” by Dan Caterinicchia, Federal Computer Week (May 10, 2001)

“Software targets e-delivery of grant services”

by Patricia Daukantas, Government Computer News (April 2, 2001)

"Partnership aimed at grants management” by Paula Shaki Trimble, Federal Computer Week (January 30, 2001)

"New FreeBalance alliance targets U.S. government" Ottawa Business Journal (January 29, 2001)

PWC Wins Medicare Accounting System Deal Gail Repsher Emery Washington Technology September 27, 2001 PricewaterhouseCoopers has been awarded a 10-year contract worth up to $328.4 million to develop and test a single, unified system that will combine Medicare's many accounting operations, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Sept. 27. The Arlington, Va., consulting unit of New York-based PricewaterhouseCoopers will handle systems integration for the project. Oracle Corp. of Redwood Shores, Calif., will provide the financial accounting software, and Electronic Data Systems Corp. of Plano, Texas, will provide application hosting services in support of the Oracle software. Twelve other software and hardware firms are participating, including FreeBalance Inc. of Arlington, Va., which will provide grants management software. The project will ensure that the program pays correctly for the care needed by Medicare beneficiaries, saving about $1.2 billion through fiscal 2010 by allowing the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to better record, track and collect receivables, HHS said. In fiscal 2002, Medicare will pay an estimated $252 billion on behalf of its 40 million beneficiaries. "For too long, Medicare has relied on outdated systems to track the nearly 1 billion health insurance claims it pays each year," HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson said. "This project will make it far easier for Medicare to track and pay claims quickly and accurately." The new Healthcare Integrated General Ledger Accounting System will eventually replace 53 systems in use by the private insurance companies that process and pay nearly 3 million Medicare claims every day. The new system will be integrated with Medicare's three standard computer systems and replace the mainframe-based financial system with a modern, Web-based accounting system, according to HHS. The project will begin with a pilot program with two Medicare contractors: Palmetto Government Benefit Administrators, which processes hospital and other institutional claims; and Empire Blue Cross & Blue Shield, which processes physician and supplier claims. The pilot phase will re-engineer the accounting business process of the contractors to support the accounting software. Before a final decision is made to install the accounting system for Medicare and all its contractors, the system will be tested to ensure it works correctly and can handle the large volume of financial transactions generated by the Medicare program. Full implementation is projected for the end of fiscal 2006, HHS said. Thompson has made modernizing Medicare's accounting systems a priority in order to improve the program's fiscal accountability to beneficiaries and taxpayers. Independent audit findings conducted by the General Accounting Office and HHS' Office of Inspector General have revealed weaknesses in the accounting of Medicare claims.

GSA adds FreeBalance Dan Caterinicchia Federal Computer Week September 27, 2001 The General Services Administration has awarded a spot on its schedule contract to FreeBalance Inc. for the company's eGrants and eFinancials products. EGrants automates the awarding of government contracts, monitors financial transactions for the duration of the contract and analyzes the attainment of program goals. It is the first FreeBalance product to use peer-to-peer technology. The GSA schedule contract will last from Aug. 23, 2001, through Aug. 22, 2006, with options to extend for three consecutive five-year periods. The contract was announced Sept. 26. FreeBalance has an extensive list of government customers, including the departments of Defense, Education, State and Transportation and the states of California and New York. Bruce Lazenby, FreeBalance's president and chief executive officer, said the GSA contract was "significant" as the company attempts to build "even stronger ties with our current and future government partners through this vehicle."

10 Companies to Watch Graeme Browning Federal Computer Week September 17, 2001 Last year, the push to move agency operations online made e-government the hot topic for up-and-coming companies seeking to grab a piece of the $45 billion federal information technology market. The recent rash of dot-com failures brought down some of those high-flyers, however, and savvy newcomers shifted their focus from providing IT services to providing fresh solutions to long-standing federal problems. The companies on this year's list of 10 - compiled with the aid of key resellers, technology analysts and knowledgeable federal IT industry experts - will become the ones to watch as the government demands a bigger bang for its technology buck and faces losing half of its IT workforce to retirement in the next five years. These companies offer technologies - such as wireless devices and knowledge management systems - that could improve worker productivity, helping ease the burden of a shrinking federal workforce. Other companies offer solutions for agencies looking to impose enterprisewide IT architectures that could save the government hundreds of millions of dollars as it standardizes IT operations. And securing government information systems, of course, continues to encourage innovation there. Lean economic times are driving manufacturing, software and service companies to concentrate more on the federal contracting market - this goes for both established players and up-and-coming firms. Although large systems integrators and service firms still dominate the market, newer companies are using the momentum of initial successes in the private sector to vie aggressively for the attention of government buyers, experts say. "The federal government is very sedate. Change happens very slowly," said Olga Grkavac, executive vice president of the Information Technology Association of America's Enterprise Solutions Division. "But as Wall Street is finding out, the federal government tends to be recession-free." Many of the companies on this year's list - such as Access360, a maker of access management software - opened offices in Washington, D.C., only a year or two after the ink dried on their first major commercial contract. Those that don't have a Washington presence yet, such as Research In Motion Ltd. (maker of the BlackBerry wireless device) and software developer SSB Technologies Inc., have been quick to form partnerships with some of the best-known names in the federal reseller community. All of them closely monitor the latest developments in federal IT policy - such as the Section 508 requirement that people with disabilities must be able to use federal Web sites - and move products to market quickly when they see a potential opening. This ability to react in "real time" makes their offerings and services stand out in the array of choices available to federal technology executives, experts say. "The companies that will fare best in this market are the ones who are anticipating the demands of issues such as Section 508 and security," said Deirdre Murray, group manager for market development with Sprint Government Systems Division. "They'll be the ones who are anticipating the market and being swift of foot about it, as well."

New leadership in the White House also gives impetus to the search for new perspectives on technology's role in managing the federal workforce. Many Clinton administration appointees had held their posts since the early 1990s, and Grkavac said, "in essence, they were ‘pre-Internet.'" "We knew a year ago that whoever won the election would bring in people who understand computers, and they would make a top-down push for more IT use," she said. The Bush administration's intent, outlined in the fiscal 2002 budget proposal, indicates that the White House would set specific performance goals for select programs across government. Mark Forman, associate director for information technology and e-government at the Office of Management and Budget, reiterated that point in July, saying in a speech that the White House plans to push agencies to align their e-government initiatives with management reforms. Forman warned there's little chance that the $45 billion spent annually on federal IT will increase. "That's the good news/bad news part of this scenario," Grkavac said. "The government will use more IT but not necessarily by making new funding sources available." In addition, OMB Director Mitchell Daniels Jr. recently instructed agency chiefs to develop plans to reduce the number of federal managers during the next five years - cuts that, combined with President Bush's campaign promises, could amount to 40,000 workers. This means government will demand that its IT investments produce more results than ever, according to the experts. "The American people still want good service from federal agencies, but they don't want them to grow in size," said Renny DiPentima, president of SRA International Inc.'s consulting and systems integration unit, and former deputy commissioner and chief information officer at the Social Security Administration. "With less people on staff, but the workload there and growing, the only thing you can do is make your people more productive. And you do that with IT," he said. ‘Office in the Field' Small wonder, then, that a passion for wireless devices is sweeping the ranks of federal executives. With laptop and handheld computers, government workers will always be able to access the office anywhere and at anytime, thus increasing productivity, IT experts say. In recent years, federal workers have become not only increasingly mobile but also dependent on both e-mail and central databases to do their jobs efficiently. "Three to five years ago, we saw the transition toward portable systems and an accompanying need for modems," said Joel Lipkin, senior vice president of sales and customer support for GTSI Corp. "Now we're fielding technology that makes it even easier to stay in contact with your basic information systems and your e-mail stream as you travel anywhere." Adds another knowledgeable federal IT analyst: "The next hot application in government is going to be ‘the office in the field.'" BlackBerry - a pager-sized device that includes a tiny keyboard, a thumb-operated trackwheel, a small backlit screen and an always-on Internet connection - has caught the fancy of federal executives this year. Although BlackBerry has been on the GSA schedule and other agency purchase lists for less than nine months, customers already include the House of Representatives, several divisions of the departments of Defense and Health and Human Services, and even the White House. "I see people in government walking around with BlackBerries all over the place," said French Caldwell, research director for Gartner Inc.'s project for technology and public policy. "In one Navy command, the admiral was so excited about his that he would stop people in the halls to show them how it worked." Research In Motion executives say the BlackBerry's popularity stems not only from its ability to send and deliver e-mail messages to workers no matter where they are, but also its ability to coordinate and update

worker's electronic calendars seamlessly and - most important - securely. "When we first started visiting federal customers, we realized that, especially in the defense community, they were interested in wireless but they thought it too unsecure," said Anthony LeBlanc, the company's head of government solutions. In March, the BlackBerry received a certification from the National Institute of Standards and Technology that its technology had military-grade security features, and "that was really the door-opener for us." Enterprise Computing Security and the pressure to move federal agencies toward enterprise architecture - that is, standardized computer systems across an organization - are two other issues generating innovative IT solutions this year. Sigaba Corp. has developed a secure e-mail system that operates on top of its public-key infrastructure, but is much easier to install and operate, according to the company's well-connected financial backers. In the enterprise arena, Access360, Appriss Inc. and FreeBalance Inc. are making a name for themselves by combining technologies to cut costs. Access360, a 2-year-old company based in Irvine, Calif., makes a system that centralizes and automates the process of granting access to sensitive documents and applications across more than 50 computing systems in the federal government. User access rose to the top of federal IT executives' priority lists last fall after the General Accounting Office issued a report disparaging many agencies' security procedures for user access. In addition, with the government's many stovepiped systems, a systems administrator often must wait for proper notification from an agency's human resources department or payroll division before granting system access to new employees, expanding or constricting access for current employees or canceling access for former employees. Notification can take days, "and the federal government can't afford to let these people sit idle in the meantime," said Todd Leto, Access360's director of government sales. The Labor Department and HHS use the company's enRole software, and DOD is running three pilot programs with the product. Such centralization is crucial as government IT efforts move toward the citizen-centric model the Bush administration envisions. "So far, we've been thinking of e-government as the government defining when the citizen gets services. In the citizen-centric model, the citizen says to the government, ‘Here's how I want you to respond to me,'" said Joe Leo, corporate vice president of Science Applications International Corp., and former CIO of the Agriculture Department. "To do that, you have to start thinking in a horizontal manner. You have to figure out how clusters of like activities can gang together, get synergy and provide information in one place, but at the same time cut across various agencies." FreeBalance hopes to generate that synergy by releasing a new product called eGrants, a version of peer-to-peer technology that will enable file-sharing among users. The company has been in the e-government marketplace since the early 1990s with its e-financial management software and counts 12 agencies - including the departments of Transportation and State, GSA and the Coast Guard - among its customers. EGrants automates the award of government contracts, monitors financial transactions for the duration of the contract and analyzes the attainment of program goals. It will be the first FreeBalance product to use peer-to-peer technology. "Peer-to-peer relies on the development of a ‘community of interest' among people who want to share information on a one-to-one basis and don't necessarily want to go through a gatekeeper to do that," said Gordon Graham, FreeBalance's vice president of marketing. "We found [that] grant recipients and applicants make an ideal community of interest, and we want to provide them with a forum to leverage their experience and their combined expertise." Generation Y Learning From Generation Gray In addition to sharing access to documents and information, federal managers will have to be able to share expertise as older employees leave and are not replaced, the experts say. "On one hand, you've got all these people with institutional knowledge retiring. On the other hand, you have ‘Generation Y,' [which] doesn't want to work for government," Gartner's Caldwell said. "If you don't have Generation Y coming into

government and you have ‘Generation Gray' leaving, there's a big issue of who are the experts, who knows how to do what and how do we leverage their expertise?" Even though it's only six years old, Autonomy Corp. already has 35 federal customers using its knowledge- management software, including the departments of Energy and Labor, NASA, GSA and several DOD divisions. In addition to providing a natural-language search engine, Autonomy's technology also analyzes and categorizes unstructured information based on key concepts and usage patterns. The program's most popular feature, however, is an "intelligent agent" that not only can be programmed to collect information about specific concepts, but also can automatically expand and refine its search as it gathers material. "These agents can create dynamic communities of interest, which helps maintain the knowledge base," said Rita Joseph, Autonomy's vice president for the public sector. "When someone new comes on the job, you can use intelligent agents to help them get up to speed faster and better." Software developed by Tacit Knowledge Systems Inc. also tracks patterns and recurring concepts to monitor expertise within an organization, but it focuses primarily on outbound e-mail. Tacit's technology allows its users to maintain both public and private profiles and to control the number and frequency of the requests for information they receive and respond to, said David Gilmour, president and CEO of the 3-year-old company. "It's a continuous, almost magical way of tracking what everybody's focused on." Wooing younger workers into government to replace the aging federal workforce also involves making information itself more accessible, the experts say. Marasco Newton Group Ltd., Development InfoStructure and SSB Technologies address those issues by, among other things, helping federal agencies develop telecommuting systems and opening up federal Web sites to citizens with disabilities. Marasco Newton - whose chief knowledge officer is Abby Pirnie, former assistant commissioner for strategic planning and business development at the Federal Technology Service - consults on workflow automation, information architecture and data integration, and e-government. The 11-year-old company also is under contract to GSA to break down agency barriers to effective telecommuting, senior vice president and co-founder Jim Whittaker said. The firm - which counts DOT, State, the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp. and the Peace Corps among its customers - won an award last year from the Commerce Department for its innovative solutions to government IT problems. Telecommuting, or telework, has become a hot issue because "the technical talent the government needs is largely being lured into the private sector," Sprint's Murray said. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) introduced a bill in March that would provide a $500 tax credit to individuals who work from home via computer, and even the CIO Council has considered telecommuting as a potential solution to the problem of the aging federal workforce, she added. Development InfoStructure is also riding the cutting edge of both technology and public policy by using open-source tools and Extensible Markup Language (XML) to build Disability Direct, a Web portal and online resource, for Labor. Open-source software is openly distributed, with users having access to the source code and the licensing agreement, if there is one. This allows free distribution of the initial software and the opportunity for users to modify and redistribute that software. The XML format provides a standard way to mark up Web documents so they can be read or exchanged on many devices. DisabilityDirect.gov - scheduled to be introduced this fall - will give workers with disabilities and their employers access to reams of information on topics such as Section 508 standards; federal programs for Americans with disabilities; local community activities; learning aids and services; supportive technologies; and employment opportunities. Using open-source code will make it easy to change the site and the information it offers as software makers release updated versions of their products, said Peter Gallagher, Development InfoStructure's president.

The 15-person firm - which was founded in 1992 and has customers at State, Commerce and Labor - has also gained attention for its use of XML, which offers the promise of seamless online transactions. The CIO Council launched an xml.gov portal early this year, and several federal agencies have begun their own XML projects. "There's a real revolution out there that's starting to happen between XML and open source," Gallagher said. "As the federal government becomes more aware of open-source capabilities, my personal opinion is that will inevitably put pressure on proprietary vendors to lower their prices." Browning is a freelance technology writer in the Washington, D.C., area.

IT Services Used To Help Rebuild War-Torn Nations Clinton Wilder InformationWeek July 9, 2001 For one Canadian software and services company, doing good is good business. FreeBalance Inc., an Ottawa-based developer of financial applications for government agencies, works with the United Nations and other international organizations to provide IT products and services to help rebuild war-torn nations such as Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and East Timor. With funding from the Canadian International Development Agency, FreeBalance said last week that it will deploy $2.4 million (Canadian) worth of its software and services to various agencies of the Kosovo government. FreeBalance eFinancials will be used by the nation's treasury, tax administration, budgeting, revenue, customs, and procurement departments, among others. The rollout extends a U.N.-administered pilot project last year that deployed the financial-management application in Kosovo's Central Fiscal Authority. Most of the country's infrastructure was destroyed during the 10-year war with Serbia. FreeBalance began targeting the emerging nations market about two years ago, working with the United Nations as well the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the International Monetary Fund. Its core market, though, remains Canadian and American government agencies, including the U.S. departments of Defense, Education, State, and Education.

First e-government steps for Kosovo Kable's Electronic Government International July 3, 2001 The rebuilders of Kosovo have picked a financial IT system The interim government of Kosovo has standardised its financial IT as part of a scheme sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency. In a contract worth $2.4m, a Canadian e-government firm FreeBalance, has supplied a system to be used at all levels in the interim administration being installed by the UN. Government in Kosovo faces several unique problems: much of the infrastructure and many municipal records were destroyed in the 1999 war. After establishing law and order, the territory's main priority is putting together a tax-collecting and public administration system. FreeBalance said on 3 July 2001 that its system had been rolled out "in its entirety" to all levels of public administration, including the Central Fiscal Authority (CFA) of Kosovo, which runs the Ttreasury, tax administration, budget, customers, procurement and central IT and central administration departments.

Brave Campaign Alex Graham Silicon Valley North July, 2001 There were potholes the size of the conference table and no traffic lights at the biggest intersection, but that was life in Kosovo for Bruce Nicol. Nicol, who spent five weeks in Pristina, Kosovo last fall, recently returned from a three-week stint in early June.

Nicol works for FreeBalance Inc., a financial software company based in Ottawa whose work and contracts have spanned the globe from North America to Europe and Asia. The company has worked with the International Monetary Fund, United Nations and other international organizations to bring stability to the region via financial policies and procedures.

It is stories like Nicol's that have inspired FreeBalance's latest human resources recruiting campaign. The campaign is geared at getting those with a sense of adventure and the gumption to make a difference to apply.

Under the tagline "Are You Brave?” FreeBalance's face has been seen around Ottawa, and the world, via the Internet, business cards, posters and newspaper ads.

The company has taken to using the slogan for everything from T-shirts at a recent volleyball tournament, to plastering the wall with "Are You Brave?” posters during a company venture to the go-carting track.

With a 35 per cent growth in FreeBalance since the promotion began, the slogan, and campaign, seem to be working; attracting those "brave souls” who dare to venture from North America to places like Kosovo or East Timor to help fledgling governments stand on their own two feet.

"The idea behind be brave is – do something important, do something big. We want people who understand that there is more to this job than just punching in and punching out,” explains Bruce Lazenby, president and CEO of FreeBalance. "We are looking to help governments change and that is a big task. We are looking for people who are passionate, compelled, and who will work hard to change something for the better, and that comes down to bravery.”

Using slogans for recruiting is not a new idea. Military outfits have successfully played on patriotism and adventure to attract recruits since WWI. Fittingly, Lazenby was formerly with the Canadian navy before heading off to the private sector.

But in today's high-tech sector, where financial rewards are astronomical and great talent is at a premium, the question remains as to whether or not catchy phrases can land prize talent.

"‘Are You Brave?' has gone beyond a straight recruiting campaign and really permeated our corporate culture,” says FreeBalance's director of marketing communications, Matthew Olivier. "It kind of defines who we are as a company. So when we are talking about "brave,” we are certainly making a statement to the people that we are trying to recruit about who we are. We are talking about sending people to international

locations; we are talking about nation building, but further than that we are also talking about acting quickly. We like to refer to our company as working at Web speed. That means taking advantage of new technologies quickly, getting to market quickly, acting on opportunities very quickly.”

The slogan "Are You Brave?” does more than just attract employees. FreeBalance is hoping it will speak to clients, investors and the public.

It's all part of corporate branding, conveying a company's ideals, values and goals though words and images, and in the past few years it has become a very important factor in the ongoing success of a business.

Don Hewson, president of advertising firm Hewson, Bridge and Smith says that human resources campaigns are an effective means for a company to create or perpetuate an image, and there are several key components that can make it successful.

The process starts with understanding your target audience so your campaign can be geared towards them.

"You have to understand what their drivers are to join a company,” says Hewson, citing money, challenge, and personal fulfillment as factors.

Next you have to determine "where the gaps in your people portfolio” are. Hewson says there will be different issues for different positions and that especially on the human resources front a one-size-fits-all approach might not be the best.

Companies, says Hewson have to make allowances for position specific issues but also have a common thread through all your different targets.”

That's where the idea of a slogan comes in.

"The slogan is a kind of rallying point, it has to capture the essence of the corporate culture but also has to have target appeal,” says Hewson.

Hewson notes that slogans often target a demographic, aiming their campaigns to elicit responses from people based on factors like age, sex or geographical location. Hewson says "Are you Brave?” is aimed more towards a psychographic, or personality type, that transcends the demographic factors.

"This slogan says to me that if you don't want a high-risk opportunity, don't apply. People who work there should be prepared to do things that they haven't done in their career before. This would appeal to people who have daring-do, and promotes a culture of people that love a challenge.”

With close to daily layoff announcements and a sharp economic downturn, brave could also be one of the words used to describe FreeBalance's strategy of recruitment in tough times.

"Up to about three months ago you saw very aggressive HR branding. In the competition to attract people corporate branding is critical factor,” says Hewson. He says with the recent downturn in the high-tech sector, the stiff competition on the human resources front has quieted down considerably as more highly qualified people actively look for work.

"Last year was a sellers market in terms of employment, now it's a buyers market. There is a large pool of very qualified people out of work. The previous strategy was to go for the ‘passives,' the people who wanted a better opportunity but already had a good job. Companies were spending a lot of money to entice these people to leave their current position and join a new team, says Hewson. "Today you still have to be aggressive in hiring new people, you still have to sell the company vision. But we've been finding that people

are not spending a lot of money (on human resources and corporate branding campaigns).” Hewson estimates that there has been about a 65 per cent drop in active campaigning since the downturn began.

But what if your company doesn't have a brand or slogan?

"It's a problem,” says Hewson. "These are smart people. They want to be a part of something that has momentum. You have to project the right image and it has to come through in everything that you do. It has to be a complete branding phenomenon, the facilities, the culture, the events, the public image.”

Ottawa-based Anjura Technology has been considering the merits of its corporate brand over the past few months. A business solutions firm, Anjura is in the process of changing the look of its Web site and its slogan.

"Right now our slogan is ‘get there faster',” says Connor Savage, director of businesses development for Anjura. "We're changing it to ‘business solutions for when it matters'.”

Savage says having a corporate slogan is critical.

"We get a lot of business from people who are in a bit of a crisis, they need a quick, and a good, response. We wanted our slogan to demonstrate our flexibility and our response time.”

Anjura undertook the task of creating a new slogan on its own. Savage says it turned out to be a little more than they had bargained for.

"I thought coming up with a new slogan would take a day or two, a week at most. It took us forever.”

Anjura tried everything from brainstorming sessions and feedback from clients and consultants, to an in-house contest. They even enlisted the help of a public relations firm who came up with catchy slogans but, in Savage's view, missed the heart of Anjura's corporate culture.

Finally Anjura was able to come to an agreement, albeit one that elicited a lot of emotion.

"People's passions really came out, and we would argue. It ended up taking us three and a half months to create the new slogan.”

As for the rest of the image, Savage says the company has learned a few lessons about balancing style and message.

Their current site, though easy to navigate and nice to look at, presented a few problems to potential customers.

"A picture is worth 1,000 words, and if there is too much text people don't read everything.”

Sometimes they don't read anything. Many clients took cues from the space shuttle and astronaut sketches that backdrop different segments of the site. The pictures were intended to show the speed of the company, not its product line.

"People thought that we were an aerospace engineering company like Lockheed Martin,” Savage recalls.

The new site will have pictures geared towards the type of solutions Anjura creates. For example a picture of people analysing DNA will accompany the work solutions the company implemented for forensic science.

Savage says he hopes that the new site will cut down on the confusion about what the company does.

Over at FreeBalance, Matthew Olivier says images have helped his team get their message across. With brave images accompanying the campaign, including a series of fighter jets, a bridge and a local landmark, Olivier notes that a good image makes people ask questions and gives the company a chance to impress potential clients with their answers.

"Every piece of our graphic works has a meaning to it. These things are not randomly chosen – everything is meaningful. For example the jets are the Unites States Air Force Thunderbirds, a high performance show team like our Snowbirds. It represents speed and a tightly-knit team that really relies on each other.”

"The stone angel who appears on everything, she can be found on the corner of St. Patrick and Sussex. Where she sits she is kind of looking out over the Ottawa River, she also can see Parliament at the same time. So with that there are two images, the powerful, swift moving river and looking out for the interests of government at the same time. And sort of encompasses the two key components of our business which are government and moving swiftly.”

"There is a bridge in the background, that shows our links to our past and our future and bridging everything that we do.”

But the company hasn't stopped there. ‘Are You Brave?' has even permeated the physical confines of their office on Metcalfe Street. A large poster of the stone angel greets you as you walk through the door. And even an innocuous conference room seems to have fallen prey, no longer simply the boardroom it is now known as "Mission Control” situated next to the "Think Tank.”

"We have to understand the difference between campaign and culture, a culture is something that is deeply rooted in the company, it is what the company is. A campaign is something that promotes a certain aspect. Every campaign has to reflect the culture, it has to reflect the vision of the company,” says CEO Bruce Lazenby. "I have heard that the first 50 people in a company create its culture, forever. We're at 45, we are creating the permanent corporate culture.”

Even the investors have taken to the campaign.

Marc Balevi is a managing partner at Montreal-based VC TechnoCap. TechnoCap began investing in FreeBalance in 1997. Balevi insists it takes more than just a catchy slogan and some interesting pictures to get people on your side. To get potential employees and clients to listen, you have to talk the talk. To get them to invest their money, time and effort, you also have to walk the walk.

"Image and leadership. People want to associate themselves with what they perceive as winners and people see a winner in Bruce Lazenby. He has done a phenomenal job in recruiting and creating a vision for the company,” says Balevi. When he took the helm at FreeBalance in January of 2000, Lazenby used his company vision to draw in other high-profile players from outside of FreeBalance to fill key positions in the company. Among his recruits was CFO Don Gibbons, formerly of CIBC and Ernst&Young.

Lazenby is still on the prowl.

"Have you ever heard the expression, ‘He who has the most toys wins'?” asks Lazenby. "I don't believe that. I believe he who has the most stories wins. If you can make a difference to a people, to a culture, to a country...if that makes you feel good then this is where you should be working.”

It sounds like Lazenby has been working on his recruiting techniques.

FreeBalance secures P2P deal Dan Caterinicchia Federal Computer Week May 23, 2001 FreeBalance Inc., a provider of financial systems for e-government, announced Tuesday that it is integrating peer-to-peer network security features into its applications at no cost to government customers. FreeBalance will use s-Peer technology from Texar Corp., a developer of enterprise security technologies for Web and P2P environments. With s-Peer, all shared resources are protected by a policy-based access control list. Government users can designate who is permitted to view and download the resources being shared, said Michael Vlugt, director of business development for Texar. FreeBalance’s eGrants will be the first product to integrate the s-Peer technology. The product features:

?? A Web-based front end for online applications.

?? A workflow component to automate the assessment and award process and eliminate paper.

?? An interface to the financial system to record budget commitments, allocate funds and schedule milestone payments.

?? A post-award analysis and monitoring tool so program managers can ensure that the goals of the

program are being met. FreeBalance has an extensive list of government customers in the United States and Canada, including the U.S. departments of Transportation and Defense and the Coast Guard. Early targets for the s-Peer technology will be FreeBalance’s eGrants customers at the federal and state level, but there is more urgency at the federal agencies that are dealing with government-imposed deadlines from the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act of 1999, according to a FreeBalance spokesman. The s-Peer technology will eventually be included in other FreeBalance products, and "there will be no associated cost increase as a result," the spokesman said.

FreeBalance tool helps grant process Dan Caterinicchia Federal Computer Week May 10, 2001 FreeBalance Inc., a provider of financial systems for e-government, announced the launch Wednesday of eGrants Pathfinder, a service to help agencies work toward fully automating their grants management processes. The FreeBalance eGrants Pathfinder is a service where company experts:

?? Examine and map a granting agency’s current processes. ?? Identify opportunities for automation and process improvement. ?? Assess the scope and level of effort required. ?? Construct a working demonstration to determine requirements and establish a vision of grants

management within the agency. Bruce Lazenby, FreeBalance president and chief executive officer, said the eGrants Pathfinder project was developed for any federal and state agency "seeking to accelerate and develop a reliable roadmap for automating their grants management processes." FreeBalance has headquarters in Ottawa, Canada, and Washington, D.C., and has an extensive list of government customers in both countries, including the U.S. departments of Transportation and Defense and the Coast Guard. The newly unveiled Pathfinder service has no customers yet, but it is based on industry demand, according to a company spokesman. Its tools are proprietary to FreeBalance and have been developed through the company’s customer base of more than 80 government departments. The cost of the Pathfinder will vary based on the size and scope of the granting agency’s processes, but should range from $50,000 to $75,000. In a related move made in January, FreeBalance and PEC Solutions Inc. announced a strategic alliance to pursue opportunities to help federal agencies Web-enable and automate their grants management systems.

Software targets e-delivery of grant services Patricia Daukantas Government Computer News April 2nd, 2001 A law that takes effect this May has spurred two companies to introduce software for electronic processing of grant applications. FreeBalance eGrants from FreeBalance Inc. of Ottawa is for use by grant applicants. Oracle Corp.’s browser-based Oracle Grants Proposal application aims to help government organizations themselves apply for grants. The 1999 Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act requires agencies that administer more than 600 grant programs to devise electronic management for them. Customizable software The Grants Management Committee of the Chief Financial Officers Council is coordinating the government’s implementation of the law, said Elizabeth Phillips of the Office of Grants and Acquisition Management at the Health and Human Services Department. The committee maintains a Web site about the new law, at www.financenet.gov/financenet/fed/cfo/grants/grants.htm. FreeBalance surveyed a number of U.S. and Canadian granting agencies about their common tasks and unique procedures, said Gordon Graham, the vice president of marketing. He called eGrants a customizable off-the-shelf product. The software, which runs on any server supporting Java2 Enterprise Edition, automates workflow and incorporates customizable reporting and accountability procedures, Graham said. For example, agencies could choose to protect information with user names and passwords, a public-key infrastructure or biometric authentication. The Economic Development Agency of Canada is installing eGrants, Graham said. The implementation lets applicants save a work in progress and gives each applicant a unique confirmation number for tracking. It routes applications for approval, periodically running a rules engine to catch missing or mismatched data. EGrants also routes approved grant applications to the agency’s financial management system. Pricing for eGrants software, services and support will be on a project-by-project basis, Graham said, but the package will probably start around $200,000. Agencies can also use Oracle Grants Proposal to tracks their own funding proposals throughout the application process. The Oracle software, for example, would help state and local governments apply for federal money, said Wayne Bobby, national director for finance and administrative solutions in Oracle’s public sector applications group.

A useful app Federal agencies seeking dollars from other federal sources could also use the app, said Frank Bishop, vice president of development for Oracle’s public sector applications group. Oracle Grants Proposal has a set of forms for creating proposals, Bishop said. The software routes drafts for approval and tailors security to individual users. It is a companion to Oracle’s existing Grants Management software, which has been renamed Grants Accounting. The new app imports data into Grants Accounting after funding is approved. Both Oracle applications run on top of an Oracle database on Unix and Microsoft Windows NT platforms. Grants Proposal sells for $3,995 per user. Contact FreeBalance at 703-351-5244 and Oracle at 650-506-7000.

Partnership Aimed at Grants Management Paula Shaki Trimble Federal Computer Week January 30th, 2001 FreeBalance Inc. and PEC Solutions Inc. announced a strategic alliance Monday to jointly pursue opportunities to help federal agencies Web enable and automate their grants management systems. FreeBalance recently released its e-Grants software, which built on its experience providing financial software to governments worldwide. The company is targeting a May deadline for federal agencies to submit to Congress their plans to automate and streamline grants management systems. The federal government provides about $300 billion in grants annually to state, local and tribal governments as well as academic institutions and research organizations. PEC has experience providing Web-enabled electronic government solutions and will help bring FreeBalance’s e-government software to the federal market, said Bruce Lazenby, president and chief executive officer of FreeBalance. "We are a product company, and PEC is a services company," Lazenby said. "Any complex application requires great software and great services." PEC likely will act as the prime contractor on any opportunities the companies jointly pursue, Lazenby said. The companies will collaborate on sales and business development initiatives, marketing campaigns, solution delivery and post-implementation support for the grants management systems. The alliance will be used to focus purely on electronic grants management for the near term, Lazenby said. A Federal Register notice Jan. 17 asked for input on agencies’ grants management processes as part of the federal Chief Financial Officers Council’s effort to create a portal to centralize federal grants information. In the future, FreeBalance hopes to work with PEC to market its upcoming releases of e-permits and e-licensing products, Lazenby said.

New FreeBalance alliance targets U.S. government Ottawa Business Journal January 29, 2001 Ottawa's FreeBalance Inc. announced a strategic alliance on Monday with PEC Solutions Inc. to collaborate to provide Web-enabled product and service programs that will automate grants management systems for the U.S. federal government. The U.S. federal government distributes about $300 billion in grants annually. FreeBalance and Virginia-based PEC will collaborate on sales and business development initiatives, marketing campaigns, solution delivery and post-implementation support for their web-enabled grants management systems. "The drive to automate grants management is being accelerated by an Act of Congress that requires federal granting agencies to have plans in place to streamline grants management by May 2001," said Bruce Lazenby, FreeBalance president and CEO. "We look forward to working together with PEC Solutions as we move aggressively to capture a dominant position in the automation of grants management."