Park Assist Pty Ltd, a global leader in parking guidance, bay sensing and parking enforcement, has secured its first contract with a US government authority with backing from Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC).
The company was awarded a US$780,000 contract with the City of Seattle to provide an electronic parking guidance system (EPGS) for the city’s downtown parking lots. Park Assist’s parking management system, including dynamic LED message signs, will provide real-time information to motorists on parking space availability in Seattle’s central business district.
To help the company fulfil its contractual obligations, EFIC underwrote the issue of a performance bond for an amount equivalent to the contract value. The bond was issued by Liberal Mutual Insurance Company (Liberty Mutual), a leading provider of surety bonds in the United States, under an ongoing arrangement between EFIC and Liberty Mutual.
‘Our company is growing dynamically in Australia and overseas’, said managing director Daniel Cohen, who co-founded Park Assist with Richard Joffe in 2005. ‘EFIC’s support with the US surety bond freed up a significant amount of our working capital, helping us to fund our strong export growth.’
In the United States, many companies and public authorities expect contractors to provide performance bonds to guarantee 100 per cent of the contract value, compared with 10 to 15 per cent of the contract value elsewhere.
‘EFIC is delighted to support Park Assist’s rapidly expanding export business’, said Andrea Govaert, EFIC’s executive director for SMEs. ‘Through our arrangement with Liberty Mutual, EFIC is well placed to respond quickly to the bonding requirements of eligible small and medium-sized exporters who want to grow their business in the United States.’
Park Assist is expected to complete the Seattle project in mid 2010. The company has already completed a major parking guidance project at Westfield Century City in Los Angeles, the first North American shopping mall to use the state-of-the-art EPGS.
