Emtec Earns Contract to Provide IT Services to New York State Agencies

    MT. LAUREL, N.J., Feb. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Emtec, Inc.
 (OTC Bulletin Board:   ETEC) announced today it has been awarded a backdrop
 contract (# CMS553A) from the New York State Office of General Services (OGS)
 to provide IT consulting and systems integration services to a variety of
 state government entities. Emtec, a leading IT services provider since 1981,
 is now among the approved solutions providers eligible to bid on IT-related
 service projects involving New York state, county and municipal agencies, as
 well as school districts.
     "We are pleased to have established this relationship, and we look forward
 to the opportunity to provide the various agencies with technology solutions
 that will help them serve the citizens of New York," said Joe Garofalo, Emtec
 Senior Vice President for Government and Education Sales.
     With the New York contract, Emtec continues to develop its solutions
 portfolio tailored for the government and education markets. A longtime
 provider of IT services to Fortune 1000 companies in New York, New Jersey,
 Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Georgia and Florida, Emtec is also a
 leading source of technology solutions for government agencies and school
 districts in New Jersey.
     "The New York contract is great news for Emtec because it plays into our
 move toward the government and education markets," said Garofalo. "We have
 become the No. 1 provider of technology solutions for New Jersey, and New York
 will become a key component in our overall strategic plan."
 
     Making the Grade
     The contract represents the culmination of a lengthy application process
 during which Emtec had to demonstrate its technical expertise, past project
 performance, staffing capabilities and general reliability in all areas
 related to network consulting, design and integration.
     "We put together a team to pursue this several months ago," said Garofalo.
 "In New York State, we have traditionally focused on commercial business, but
 we wanted to increase our focus to also include government and education."
 
     Into the Pool
     Under the backdrop contract, Emtec joins a pool of qualified vendors who
 are eligible to participate in a secondary "mini-bid" process -- an
 abbreviated bid and selection process for individual agency projects. Projects
 often are awarded in as few as four weeks, resulting in a streamlined
 procurement process that saves the state money through limited requests for
 proposals and simplified contract administration.
     New York has used the backdrop contract system since 1953 to allow cities,
 towns, villages, counties and public schools to leverage the buying power of
 the statewide OGS to purchase materials, equipment and supplies at competitive
 prices. Fire districts, volunteer ambulance companies, libraries, private
 schools and colleges are also eligible to use OGS contracts.
     One of the great advantages to local governments using vendors on the
 backdrop contract is that they are relieved of the responsibility of handling
 bid solicitation and evaluation, as well as contract development and
 management. All of those administrative tasks are handled centrally by the
 OGS.
 
     E-government Opportunities
     Emtec's contract is a "pure services" contract, according to Garofalo,
 which means the company will focus on network consulting, design and
 integration projects rather than hardware or software sales. There is
 potentially a great demand for such services as more and more state, county
 and city agencies embark upon e-government initiatives.
     E-government is one of the fastest growing segments of the Internet
 marketplace. Legislative requirements and citizen demand are fueling the
 development of new programs and services designed to maximize government use
 of online resources. Government agencies are quickly moving from static,
 information-only Web sites to dynamic, interactive sites offering increased
 customer service.
     One way that government agencies are fast-tracking e-government
 initiatives is through the use of the Citrix solutions portfolio. Many
 agencies use Citrix products to provide a single Web-based point of access to
 their new and legacy key business applications, information delivered through
 Web forms and new Web-based applications.
     "We have a lot of expertise with Citrix and it's a good solution for many
 agencies," said Garofalo. "The other methodology would be to rewrite
 applications in a Web-based environment. If clients don't have the time,
 desire or the funds to do that, they can present many of their apps on the Web
 via Citrix without having to do rewrites. We're actually involved in quite a
 few substantial projects like that in New Jersey right now. So, with our
 Citrix expertise we can absolutely pursue e-government opportunities in New
 York."
 
     Information Sharing
     Emtec's expertise with database integration could also bear fruit under
 the New York contract. More and more government agencies want to have fully
 integrated databases and applications in order to provide maximum levels of
 service and accessibility to citizens. This means all applications being
 utilized by branches of the same governmental body should be able to
 seamlessly share and update data in real time. Without this ability, data is
 maintained in diverse systems requiring additional time, effort and human
 interaction to coordinate and update.
     The Office of Homeland Security has recently spurred an even bigger push
 toward the vision of a seamless, electronically integrated government.
 Database integration among the various federal, state and local law
 enforcement communities has become a high priority since the Sept. 11
 terrorist attacks. Cross-agency information sharing among law enforcement,
 defense and intelligence agencies is a key provision of the Homeland Security
 Act of 2002.
      "The government is very aware of the fact that they have disparate
 databases in most of their justice systems," said Garofalo. "There are some
 major initiatives right now to integrate databases of justice systems so they
 can streamline their whole security and justice process. Police departments
 require the ability to share information with counties, state, municipalities
 and even the federal arena. Many are starting to move in that direction, and
 this contract could enable us to get involved in those opportunities."
 
     About Emtec
     Emtec, Inc., established in 1981, provides high-end computer systems and
 services to Fortune 1000 clients ranging in size from $50 million to $500
 million in revenues. The Company specializes in evaluating and providing
 solutions for data management including Enterprise Management, Managed
 Services (monitoring/maintenance/helpdesk), and Data Management (storage and
 protection of data). With the recent acquisitions of Intellispan (Help Desk),
 Accentra (systems and services) and Turnkey Computer Systems (managed building
 services), Emtec has broadened its engineering and services capabilities. For
 additional information please contact Consulting For Strategic Growth 1, Ltd.,
 at 800-625-2236.
 
     Certain statements in this document constitute "forward-looking
 statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
 of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks,
 uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results,
 performance or achievements of Emtec, Inc. ("the Company"), or industry
 results, to be materially different from any future results, performance, or
 achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The
 Company's future operating results are dependent upon many factors, including
 but not limited to the Company's ability to: (i) obtain sufficient capital or
 a strategic business arrangement to fund its plan of operations when needed;
 (ii) build the management and human resources and infrastructure necessary to
 support the growth of its business; (iii) competitive factors and developments
 beyond the Company's control; and (iv) other risk factors discussed in the
 Company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission which
 are available for review at www.sec.gov under "Search for Company Filings."
 Consulting For Strategic Growth I, Ltd. ("CFSG") has a month-to-month
 relationship with Emtec, Inc. to provide consulting, business advisory,
 investor relations, public relations and corporate development services to the
 Company for fees to be determined. In connection with these services, CFSG
 prepares press releases, corporate profiles, and other publications on behalf
 of and regarding the Company. Independent of CFSG's receipt of cash
 compensation from Emtec, CFSG may choose to purchase the common stock of Emtec
 and thereafter liquidate those securities at any time it deems appropriate to
 do so.
 
      Contacts:
 
      Stanley Wunderlich
      Consulting For Strategic Growth 1, Ltd.
      Public Relations
      Corporate Development Consultants
      Tel: 800-625-2236
      Fax: 212-697-0910
      E-mail: cfsg@consultant.com
 
      John Howlett
      Chief Executive Officer
      Emtec, Inc.
      Tel: 856-235-8787
      Fax: 856-235-2932
      E-mail: john_howlett@emtecinc.com
      Web site: www.emtecinc.com
 
 

SOURCE  Emtec, Inc.