In December 2010, USPS issued a solicitation for the Next Generation Retail System Software (Next Gen RSS). According to the solicitation: “This software will be utilized across all of the retail Point of Sale platforms. USPS is seeking Software, Software Maintenance, Software Support, and Help Desk Support across the continental United States.” Recently USPS awarded the contract to Escher Group, LTD.
The following is information taken from several sources:
February 8, 2012 – Escher, a world leading provider of outsourced, point of sale software to the postal industry, is pleased to announce that, following a major tender process, it has been awarded a significant contract to provide its Riposte suite of software, maintenance and services to a leading Postal Authority.
The contract, which has a 54 month base period and renewal options, is expected to generate, over a fifteen-year term, approximately US$50m in revenue for the Group, but with scope for substantial additional revenue. The first revenue from this contract win, worth approximately US$4m, is expected in the year ending December 2012, with increasing revenue in 2013 as the software is rolled out across the network.
Commenting on today’s announcement, Liam Church, Chief Executive Officer of Escher, said: “We are delighted to be able to announce today’s contract win. This is a significant step forward in Escher’s growth and continued development”.
About Escher
Escher is a world leading developer and provider of outsourced, point of sale software for use in the postal industry worldwide. Its core software, RiposteEssential, enables post offices to expand upon their traditional offering, providing additional new services, reducing costs and increasing efficiency. Riposte is a messaging middleware that enables applications operating on different computers to communicate with each other. The Riposte software manages data, monitors the system status and communicates across the network. Escher operates across two divisions – its Retail Software Division and its Message Based Communications Division.
The Retail Software Solution (RiposteEssential) serves the postal and courier markets. Transactions include mail and financial services and the system is integrated with utilities and financial services companies, banks and central and local governments.
Escher’s Message Based Communications Division (RiposteTrEx) is based on a digital post office box model and is designed to provide a national digital infrastructure linking governments, businesses and citizens via a secure platform.
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The USPS joins Escher’s customer base of 30 postal authorities, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway, Austria, Germany, Portugal, and many others that have implemented the Riposte® family of products to support a full range of services from postal transactions to retail sales, bill payments, banking and government services.
Contract Award Date: February 6, 2012 via Federal Business Opportunities web site
Contract Award Dollar Amount: MINIMUM $50,000 AND MAXIMUM $100,000,000
Contracting Office Address:
475 L’Enfant Plaza SW Room 4541
Washington, District of Columbia 20260-6238
Place of Performance:
Washington DC Metro Area (Main)
• Eagan, MN
• Raleigh, NC
• St. Louis, MO
• Wilkes-Barre, PA
• San Mateo, CA
Postal “logic” will say “we can afford this because its coming from a different budget” Its like saying to your wife ‘Honey, I’m gonna buy beer using the funds set aside for diapers”
Its all smoke and mirrors now. 25 yrs ago alot of new hires went into the various crafts and worked. A select few quickly decided ‘working” was too hard and easily became 204B’s
Fast foward 25 yrs and the very people who never actually did any work are making big decisions on the Post Offices future.
I’m glad I’n the tail end of a carreer with the PO…… couldn’t fathum starting again
Why is the Postal Service still awarding contracts with money they supposedly don’t have? If the system they have now actually records the transactions that allow them to bring in money, why does it actually need updating?