IBM and SciQuest Partner to Provide Comprehensive Spend Management

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., July 12, 2005-- SciQuest, Inc., a leading provider of on-demand supplier management and e-procurement solutions, announced today its partnership with IBM Business Consulting Services to provide a comprehensive Spend Management Solution designed to meet the unique purchasing needs of higher education institutions. This partnership combines the strength of IBM's world class procurement services with SciQuest's industry leading supplier management and procurement automation technology.

SciQuest's on demand, modular procurement solution can be configured easily to work with existing financial and ERP technology. Procurement and accounting professionals receive data they can act upon in comprehensively analyzing their organization's spending and in measurably reducing cost. To this technology, IBM adds the benefits of its Procurement Services Practice, the world's largest, with over 500 experienced purchasing professionals. IBM's procurement experience and expertise can help higher education institutions optimize their procurement functions.

"SciQuest's procurement solutions ensure cutting-edge spend management at leading academic institutions throughout the country," said Patrick Carey, higher education leader for IBM Business Consulting. "IBM's extensive procurement consulting experience combined with SciQuest's proven technology can significantly increase procurement savings for our clients."

The partnership allows universities to:

• Improve savings campus-wide
  
• Analyze spending to determine the most efficient spend solutions for the institution
  
• Make spending more visible, leading to greater cost savings
  
• Aggregate the analysis of spending with multiple suppliers, increasing contract compliance, order efficiency and user adoption
  
• Bring significantly more campus-wide spend under management
  
• Continuously realign supplier relationships through strategic sourcing and strategies to maintain maximum sustainable cost savings

"IBM's high-level procurement consulting and SciQuest's industry-leading technology, together, yield an unparalleled opportunity for higher education institutions to customize and manage their ideal purchasing system," said Stephen Wiehe, president & CEO at SciQuest. "This comprehensive solution covers every base of an institution's procurement structure, before and after implementation."

About SciQuest

SciQuest provides supplier management solutions that help customers gain greater visibility and control over their spend. Through its supplier network, SciQuest aggregates detailed supplier content and enables supplier connectivity, providing a purchasing experience that drives user adoption and contract compliance.By leveraging SciQuest's expertise in on-demand content management and procurement automation, customers can rapidly improve efficiency and capture unrealized savings.

Many of the world's leading organizations rely on SciQuest solutions such as Biogen Idec, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Roche, Schering-Plough , Arizona State University, Indiana University , University of Michigan , University of Nevada , Reno and University of Pennsylvania .

For more information about SciQuest, please visit www.sciquest.com or call +1-919-659-2100.

About IBM

IBM, the world's largest consulting, services and information technology company, helps improve education throughout the world. For more than 80 years, IBM people and solutions have been helping schools and institutions of higher education innovate for greater achievement, productivity and efficiency. IBM draws on its world-class portfolio of services, software and hardware solutions to help clients realize the full potential of their technology investments. For information about IBM's solutions and experience in education, please visit: www.ibm.com/industries/education . For information on partnering with IBM, please visit: www.ibm.com/partnerworld .

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SciQuest and SelectSite are registered trademarks of SciQuest, Inc. HigherMarkets is a trademark of SciQuest, Inc.

Contacts:
Media Relations:

Kristi Lee
SRK Communications
919-270-8054
kristi@srkcommunications.com

Chuck Vitello
SciQuest, Inc.
919-659-2141
cvitello@sciquest.com