Louise:
 
We completed an assessment and found that the variable operating costs were not as competitive as other alternatives in the marketplace.
 
George

-----Original Message-----
From: Kitchen, Louise 
Sent: Monday, October 08, 2001 8:07 AM
To: Wasaff, George; Piper, Greg
Cc: Richter, Brad; Pickering, Mark; Beck, Sally
Subject: RE: DealBench in 2002


George,
 
We are pretty sure DealBench is the cheapest in the market place -  we are way below others for costs.  Do GSS use DealBench for all our sourcing now?
 
Louise

-----Original Message-----
From: Wasaff, George 
Sent: Friday, October 05, 2001 4:40 PM
To: Piper, Greg
Cc: Richter, Brad; Pickering, Mark; Beck, Sally; Mesquita, Ross; Whalley, Greg; Delainey, David; Dietrich, Janet; Lavorato, John; Kitchen, Louise; Fallon, Jim; McMahon, Jeffrey; Bowen Jr., Raymond; Shankman, Jeffrey A.; Mcconnell, Mike; McCarty, Danny; Sherriff, John; Causey, Richard
Subject: RE: DealBench in 2002


Greg:
 
As you know, we have used DealBench as our auction platform since inception and have been very pleased with the results.  Unfortunately, the costs associated with this proprietary platform make it cost prohibitive for Enron to sustain.  I would suggest that the more prudent approach is to determine the aggregate demand for such services and to utilize GSS to contract and manage a third party service/auction platform for Corp. and the commercial business units.
 
George
 
 -----Original Message-----
From: Piper, Greg 
Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2001 3:58 PM
To: Delainey, David; Dietrich, Janet; Lavorato, John; Kitchen, Louise; Fallon, Jim; McMahon, Jeffrey; Bowen Jr., Raymond; Shankman, Jeffrey A.; Mcconnell, Mike; McCarty, Danny; Sherriff, John
Cc: Richter, Brad; Pickering, Mark; Beck, Sally; Wasaff, George; Mesquita, Ross; Whalley, Greg
Subject: DealBench in 2002



As you know, we have an application in ENW called DealBench.  This application allows deal rooms, data rooms and auctions.  
 
ENW has done a complete review of this application and determined the following:
 
(1)  It is very difficult to build a successful, externally facing business based on the above lines of service in an ASP format.  Outside marketing to external clients for a fee was stopped in July 2001.
 
(2)  A change in the eCommerce landscape combined with Auctioning technology becoming a commodity makes it very difficult to sell the application and associated intellectual property.  ENW has approached 22 separate companies about a purchase of the software since April with no outright bids.
 
(3)  However, the auction and deal room functionality was used by many internal business units for a variety of reasons.  According to expected budgets and expected costs prior to events vs. actual results after auctions and deal rooms occurred, Enron business units realized approximately $8 million in value.  In the past, ENA has done 13 data rooms, EES did 2 live auctions, EBS did 3 live auctions, Corp. did 4 live auctions, tax did a deal room and NBPL did 2 auctions in addition to the small amount of business that was done by non-Enron clients.
 
Therefore, the question going forward is if several business units in Enron will take the application on an allocated or commitment to services basis for 2002.  The total estimated expense for the application (depreciation, ongoing technical and commercial support, etc.) is $2 million for 2002.  
 
If a representative of each business unit would get back to me with an answer soon, that would be great.  The application works well and has provided real value to Enron.  If there is not enough interest in it, I will discuss with Whalley what we do about potentially shutting it down.
 
Thanks.
 
 

Greg Piper 
Chief Executive Officer

Enron Net Works, LLC

  _____