Horne Engineering Services, Treasury Advisory Services and SMARTBIM, Announce New Energy Advisory Services and Strategic Alliance

FAIRFAX, Va., Sept. 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Horne Engineering Services, LLC, a subsidiary of Horne International, Inc. (OTCBB: HNIN.ob – News), today announced that Horne Engineering Services, Treasury Advisory Services and SMARTBIM have created a new Energy Advisory Services offering and a mutual strategic alliance. Horne's Energy Advisory Services business line will market turnkey deep energy retrofit and energy efficiency solutions to government and private enterprise customers.

Turnkey deep energy retrofits are implemented in existing buildings based on comprehensive ASHRAE 90.1-compliant energy audits, and digital modeling of a building and its energy profile with the goal of implementation of engineering work and technologies to reduce the energy and water usage, and carbon footprint of the structure. The option of pursuit of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification will also be offered. According to the Urban Land Institute, the market value of these services could be at least $200 billion over the next 10 years.

Horne Engineering Services, utilizing its small business codes, will act as the systems and services integrator and single marketing entity to aggressively deliver energy efficiency solutions to a broad range of commercial properties and to the US Army, US Army Corp of Engineers, USVA, NAVFAC Atlantic and MidAtlantic, USAID, DECA, the Commonwealth of Virginia, State of Maryland, and select health care networks and casinos.

"Horne sees this new business offering as a logical extension of over 20 years of engineering experience in the provision of energy and environmental services. The building infrastructure marketplace rightly treats energy usage as a liability for any building owner," stated Darryl K Horne, President of Horne Engineering Services. "Our world class team will reduce that liability by reducing energy use footprints through efficiency measures and by taking the next step of using the latest energy audit, building information modeling (BIM), energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies to substantially reduce net energy consumption and associated costs."

Based on the core competency of Horne Engineering Services as a systems and services integrator, its past performance in engineering, energy and environment; strategic alliance partnerships have been entered into with Treasury Advisory Services of Chevy Chase, MD and SMARTBIM of Norcross, GA.

Arol Wolford, President & CEO of SMARTBIM states, "My company's building information management (BIM) software package and now visual information management (VIM) software package are constantly evolving to best address the needs of building owners, to provide a clear and coherent picture of what the real energy cost is for an owned asset. Our Energy Advisory Services partnership embodies the ability to take my firm's modeling into the physical world."

Fred Deluca, Partner, Treasury Advisory Services (TAS) said, "Treasury Advisory Services has been focused on our clients' needs for finding the best way to capitalize on an investment. Reducing our clients' energy usage liabilities and their sourcing of financing mechanisms takes this liability and turns it into an asset. Our most recent efforts have been focused on the development of creative project financing, identification of tax credits and financial incentives, and optimization of that package so as to maximize return on investment while minimizing the pay-off period. This truly changes any client's financial model."

SMARTBIM and TAS bring additional depth, experience and qualifications to the new venture. Employing a mutually developed and agreed to systems engineering approach, this team has every capability required to arrange financing for and delivery of turnkey energy efficiency solutions for building infrastructure to any customer. Partnerships and working agreements are also being developed with leading architectural and engineering firms, for engagement on a project-by-project basis.

The Energy Advisory Services team plans to jointly roll out a webpage that will be linked to the Horne International website, increase marketing and branding visibility as initial customers sign up for the service, and plans a newly incorporated entity under the Horne International umbrella as the business builds out.

"The Energy Advisory Services team has been actively marketing the turnkey deep energy retrofit service, has already issued proposals and is receiving a great deal of positive feedback from potential customers," said Evan Auld-Susott, CEO, Horne International. "We anticipate bringing our service to market with its first customers very soon."

About Horne

Horne International provides engineering services for sustainable infrastructure, with an emphasis on engineering, energy, and the environment. The company is a trusted partner for its customers in the defense, environment and energy, homeland security and transportation sectors. For more information, please visit www.horne.com.

About Treasury Advisory Services

Treasury Advisory Services is committed to partnering with companies to plan and deliver results. The company's values are high integrity, objectivity and a commitment to delivering long-term results. Each Treasury Advisory Services partner has 20+ years of proven experience in corporate finance. They are individually committed to complete satisfaction of the client and to delivering value on each and every engagement. For more information about Treasury Advisory Services please visit www.treasuryadvisoryservices.com.

About SMARTBIM

SMARTBIM, LLC is a leader in building information modeling solutions for the construction industry. SMARTBIM serves the industry with products and services focused on creation and management of the vital product information within a BIM model. With its recent acquisition of ecoScorecard, SMARTBIM now also provides a computerized systematic approach to assessing technology and product performance as well as automatically tabulating LEED points and documenting the bases of the points. SMARTBIM is a privately held company based in Atlanta, GA.  For more information, visit www.smartbim.com or call 877-436-9031.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts. These statements are subject to uncertainties and risks including, but not limited to, risks set forth in documents filed by the company from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All such forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, and whether made by, or on behalf of, the Company, are expressly qualified by these cautionary statements and any other cautionary statements which may accompany the forward-looking statements. In addition, the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.

Contact Information:
Horne International, Inc.
Investor Relations
(703) 641-1100, or contact [email protected]

SOURCE Horne Engineering Services, LLC