FreeMarkets Announces New Agreement with Tata Engineering; Long-term Deal Follows Successful Completion of Pilot With India's Largest Automobile Company

    PITTSBURGH--Feb. 5, 2002--FreeMarkets, Inc. , the leading global provider of e-sourcing software and service solutions, today announced that it has signed a new long-term agreement with Tata Engineering & Locomotive Company Ltd.
    Under the terms of the agreement, Tata Engineering will leverage FreeMarkets' e-sourcing software and service solutions, including its FullSource(TM) offering and QuickSource(TM) application, to source various goods for its global operations. The agreement follows the successful completion of a pilot program, which FreeMarkets and Tata Engineering began in 2001.
    To date, Tata Engineering has sourced a wide variety of automotive purchases through FreeMarkets, including development items in a country-lead initiative.
    "Tata Engineering is adopting and implementing innovative e-sourcing technologies that can help us reduce our costs and enhance the overall efficiency of our supply chain," said Ravi Kant, Executive Director, Tata Engineering. "FreeMarkets has a proven track record of delivering fast, measurable results to customers around the globe, and we look forward to leveraging the company's technology, information and services to create savings and efficiencies that benefit our organization and add a meaningful, transparent dimension to long-term supplier relationships.
    Tata Engineering is one of India's largest private sector companies. With a turnover of $1.6 billion (Rs.8,000 crores), it is the country's leading vehicle manufacturer and one of the top ten manufacturers of commercial vehicles in the world. Tata Engineering is a part of Tata Group, which is the one of the largest industrial groups in India, with an annual turnover of $8.5 billion (INR 41,000 crores).
    "We are very pleased that Tata Engineering is choosing to use our e-sourcing software and services to source goods and services for their operations around the world," said Amit Bhatia, Vice President and General Manager, FreeMarkets India. "Tata Engineering is a leader among Indian companies in the use of innovative of e-sourcing solutions, and we look forward to continuing to provide them with the software and service solutions they need to meet their strategic sourcing and business objectives."

    About Tata Engineering

    Tata Engineering manufactures medium, heavy and light commercial vehicles, multi-utility vehicles and passenger cars. The company today has a dominant market share in the commercial vehicles and is among top three manufacturers of passenger cars in India. Tata Engineering produced India's first fully indigenously designed and manufactured passenger car "Indica" in year 1999. Export markets include the Middle East, Africa and South-east Asia, as well as developed countries in Europe like Italy, UK and Spain. The company has 3 main manufacturing units, which are located in eastern, western and northern parts of India. For more information, visit the company's website at http://www.telcoindia.com.

    About FreeMarkets

    FreeMarkets is the leading global provider of e-sourcing software and service solutions. Through its unique combination of industry-leading, web-based software, in-depth supply market information, market operations and expert sourcing services, FreeMarkets has helped customers around the world source more than $30 billion in goods and services in over 195 different supply verticals and identify savings of $6.4 billion. FreeMarkets can be found on the Web at www.freemarkets.com. FreeMarkets(R) and BidWare(R) are registered trademarks of FreeMarkets, Inc., and FullSource(TM) and QuickSource(TM) are pending trademarks of FreeMarkets, Inc.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    Statements in this press release that are not historical facts, including those statements that refer to FreeMarkets' plans, prospects, expectations, financial projections, strategies, intentions, and beliefs, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on information available to FreeMarkets today, and FreeMarkets assumes no obligation to update these statements as circumstances change. There are risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, market acceptance of FreeMarkets' products and services, the competitive nature of the market for e-commerce products and services, FreeMarkets' ability to predict its revenues and earnings, FreeMarkets' ability to develop competitive new products and services on a timely basis, introduction of new products and services by competitors, declining or uncertain economic and industry conditions, FreeMarkets' ability to attract and retain personnel and other risk factors that are described in more detail in FreeMarkets' most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K/A, and its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.