Perth-based eLearning software developer HarvestRoad Ltd has announced its HarvestRoad Hive system has been selected by US buying consortium MiCTA.
Perth-based eLearning software developer HarvestRoad Ltd has announced its HarvestRoad Hive system has been selected by US buying consortium MiCTA.
The HarvestRoad Hive system, an online educational database, was selected following a highly competitive panel tender process.
MiCTA represents over 19,500 member institutions throughout the US, including educational, governmental, libraries, health care, religious/charitable and public sector not for profit entities.
According to MiCTA Service Corporation CEO Kim Ellertson, the education purchasing tender is expected to exceed $US30 million from agreements across all categories over the next three years.
HarvestRoad was also awarded the highly coveted 'Endorsed Supplier' status.
Recently, HarvestRoad raised $1.24 million through the placement of 6.7 million shares at 18.5 cents per share.
The capital raising was undertaken to fund its expansion into North America and the United Kingdom, supporting major contracts that the company has won in both of these geographic regions.
The company believes the servicing of these major contracts will contribute to strong revenue growth in 2006.
Last year, HarvestRoad completed a number of contracts with international customers including The Royal Netherlands Land Army, DeVry Inc., The rSmart Group, and the Office of Continuous Learning at the US Naval Postgraduate School.
Below is the full announcement:
eLearning software developer HarvestRoad (ASX:HRD) today announced that its HarvestRoad Hive® Federated Digital Repository System has been selected following a highly competitive panel tender process as the sole Learning Object Repository solution for a US buying consortium representing over 19,500 member institutions in 50 US States. HarvestRoad was also awarded the highly coveted `Endorsed Supplier' status.
MiCTA is a buying organization that represents educational, governmental, libraries, health care, religious/charitable, and public sector not for profit entities and produces and publishes collaborative tender award generating agreements that are made available to all Members.
MiCTA's aims are to:
- Provide one stop shopping for a range of common services
- Save members resources and costs through centralized tendering
- Continuously address Member Products and Service Needs
- Offer Vendor endorsement
- Address Individual Organization's Purchasing Requirements
In addition to MiCTA members, this panel award represents the requirements of four major regional compacts in the US of the American TelEdCommunications Alliance (ATAlliance) covering 48 mainland States including the Midwestern Higher Education Commission (MHEC), the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), and the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE).
MiCTA Service Corporation CEO Kim Ellertson said "The consortium members have become increasingly interested in purchasing purpose designed, stand alone learning object repository capability which is seen as the best method to reduce the cost of ownership by separating content from the presentation, thereby making learning assets more widely available ¬ and simultaneously - to a number of institutions or communities of practice."
"The evaluation committee was clearly pleased that HarvestRoad was not only able to offer a superior `next generation' technology in the HarvestRoad Hive® learning object repository capability we were seeking, but was also able to meet the desired commercial requirements of consistent, simplified, volume based pricing - a combination that made it a stand out offering which has generated a lot of interest amongst the consortium's members already."
"The advantages of being selected as the `Endorsed Vendor' cannot be overemphasized.
Most MiCTA/ATAlliance members choose the endorsed vendor, resulting in greater volume discount pricing, and potentially fewer RFP's and/or contracts to administer. The level of utilization through resulting agreements across categories is expected to exceed $US30.0m over the next three years," Mr Ellertson also said.
Grame Barty, founder and CEO of HarvestRoad said "MiCTA's members' needs fit with HarvestRoad's vision and market positioning perfectly and we were very pleased to be selected as the best solution and be awarded `Endorsed Supplier `status in such a highly competitive tender. Establishing a Master Agreement with the MiCTA Service Corporation also simplifies and speeds up the procurement process and with the volume incentives we have offered we look forward to rapidly rolling out HarvestRoad Hive® across a number of states in the next few months building on the work we have already achieved with Florida Distance Learning and the Georgia Board of Regents."
"HarvestRoad was also pleased to see its Alliance Partner, Angel Learning had also been selected as an "Endorsed Supplier" in the standalone Learning Management System category and this reflected the success of cooperating in system interoperability to provide customers with the opportunity to select best of breed functionality and we look forward to working with them when members request this capability," Barty added.
Successful vendors in other categories included Desire2Learn and UCompass.co
