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BEND, OR., September 18, 2000 - The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC WASA) has entered an Application Service Provider (ASP) partnership with Orcom Solutions, Inc. Toreplace its current water billing system. In addition to the base ASP services, Orcom will provide quality assurance services and bill print services.

DC WASA is currently operating a homegrown Water Billing System, which was not designed to provide the level of customer service required in the 21st century. With green-screen technology -- focused more on the meter than the customer, DC WASA's current CIS is limiting the staff's ability toeasily capture and access basic customer information. Supporting this system has become resource intensive, especially in a time when IT resources are in scarce supply.

"We knew that we had toreplace the system," said Grace Beaman, Customer Service Manager for DC WASA and head of the CIS Selection Committee. "No one questioned that decision. Our challenge was to find the most function-rich system that could be implemented quickly and within budget. Not only does Orcom offer the system functionality and track record of success that we were looking for, the ASP approach allows us toreplace our system quickly, cost-effectively and with clearly defined risks."

Enterprise Customer Information System (E-CIS), the core of Orcom's ASP offering, will allow DC WASA to provide a customer focused service versus the traditional meters and properties focused service. DC WASA also will be able to Offer new products and services, provide personalized service through features such as Interactive Voice Recognition technology for its call center employees, and quickly generate business reports that support operations. Additionally, features like Orcom's Internet Access System and Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) will web-enable many of DC WASA's CIS and billing operations -- supporting greater customer self-service.

"E-CIS is a robust product," said Mrs. Beaman. "The DC WASA Core Team has been duly impressed by the functionality and ease of setup and use. After a close look at the ASP approach, we realized that it would allow us to focus our energies on our business. We were not interested in entering a CIS technology race when our focus is delivering safe clean drinking water and superior customer service. The ASP approach allows us to focus on our core business while Orcom ensures that our CIS system remains current. Additionally, this system will position us tointegrate all of our customer related operations, including metering and water and sewer distribution operations, as we install automated service dispatching and geographical information systems in the future."

"We are thrilled to have been selected by the DC WASA team," said Mark Crapeau, Orcom Executive Vice President. "More and more utilities are turning toASP relationships because they recognize the need to focus on their main business operations, not technology. Our ASP approach allows our clients to Move quickly, while spending less money and avoiding the risk associated with an in-house solution. We view this approach as one of alignment," added Crapeau. "We are aligned with our client's business objectives."

About DC WASA
The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC WASA) provides retail water and sewer services tomore than 131,000 residential and commercial customers in the District, as well as wholesale wastewater treatment services to portions of Maryland and Virginia. DC WASA was formed in 1996 by the District of Columbia, Montgomery and Prince George's Counties in Maryland, and Fairfax County in Virginia as a regional entity under an independent Board of Directors. DC WASA is in the midst of a Board adopted program tosystematically replace all of its information technology.

About Orcom Solutions
Orcom Solutions, Inc., is the premier Application Service Provider (ASP) of billing and customer care solutions, systems integration and outsourcing services to the utility and energy industry. With over 1.2 million outsourced bills, Orcom is the largest ASP for utility and energy bills in the industry. Headquartered in Bend, Oregon, with an office in Denver, Colorado, and a service delivery facility in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, Orcom currently has more than 500 employees. Orcom is a LiveWire Utilities company. LiveWire is a diversified software and Internet company focused on business-to-business and mission critical software products and services for media, telecom, utility and Internet companies.

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