Not Too Shabby -- D&B's $92 Million Spend Visibility Deal

For years, the supply management group at D&B has played second fiddle to the sales / risk management (i.e., credit) solutions the company offers. But now that part of the old Open Ratings leadership is leading the charge for D&B Supply Management Solutions strategy, might things be changing? Judging by a recent $92 million dollar deal with the Federal government, I'd reckon they are.

According to D&B's transcript from their last quarterly results (about the only way the company ever shares any information publicly), "we've already made good progress in this area [supply management] and, ultimately, this focus will allow us to become more embedded in our operations over time. As one example, we signed a five-year, $92 million contract with the General Services Administration (GSA) of the Federal Government during the quarter. This project is designed to help the Government provide a higher degree of transparency into federal spending. This deal significantly expands upon our existing relationship with the GSA -- more than doubling our annual contract value with this customer over the past two years."

$92 million bucks for spend visibility? Now that's a deal to write home about (and hopefully one that will draw attention to the potential for SMS within D&B's credit and risk focused management team). But as important, I'm just as excited about D&B's new UI and features for a number of their supply management products, a topic which I'll explore in the next few weeks.

- Jason Busch