IRVINE, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 08/14/08 -- NWP Services Corporation (NWP) has extended its outsourcing agreement with Accenture (NYSE: ACN) to 2018. NWP is the leading provider of financial transaction processing solutions for resident utilities billing and payment-processing services to the multifamily housing industry in the United States.

The agreement extends by three years a 10-year outsourcing agreement Accenture signed in 2005 to provide NWP with software development and software support services related to NWP's customer care and billing information functions.

Accenture will continue to provide NWP with technology services including software development and support, batch and production infrastructure operations, systems performance and tuning, and Web development. Accenture will leverage its utilities industry expertise, project-management capabilities and experience implementing large and complex utility billings systems to enable NWP to introduce product offerings more quickly, expand its product features while enhancing the level of customer service.

"Accenture has provided tremendous value to NWP since 2005, helping us keep abreast of technology and IT best practices and enabling us to consistently provide multi-family owners and managers with top-quality, cost-effective services," said Jim Charles, NWP senior vice president. "Partnering with an industry leader like Accenture allows NWP to continue to streamline resident billing and utility management processes for our customers."

Michael Piechowski, a senior executive in Accenture's Utilities practice, said, "We are delighted with the extension of our relationship with NWP and look forward to continuing to help them increase operational efficiency, manage costs and improve service to residents and property owners alike -- ultimately enabling them to further extend their leadership in the multi-housing industry."

About NWP Services Corporation:

Headquartered in Irvine, California, NWP Services Corporation (NWP) serves the multifamily housing industry as its leading financial transaction processing provider. NWP is known for its industry expertise delivering proven results and exceptional quality in resident billing, resident payment processing and utility management.

Resident billing by NWP helps property owners offset their utility expenses. The company's utility cost recovery team allocates utility charges to residents and prints and sends the bill; NWP's billing options now include convergent-or "rent-inclusive"-billing through its Resident OneBill service. Complementing its billing services, the company's electronic resident payment processing service; called Resident ePay; enables residents to pay their rent, utilities and other monthly charges online or at the rental office with funds transferred to the property's bank account electronically. Resident ePay gives residents convenience and choice and enables owners to access cash faster. In addition, with its UtilityPay Manager program, NWP processes and pays invoices sent to customers' properties by utility companies. UtilityPay Manager helps customers reduce time spent on administrative bill payment work and provides them with valuable utility data and additional cost management opportunities, including recovering expenses from residents when they fail to transfer utilities into their own name.

NWP's offerings are available as individual services or as a fully integrated solution and are designed to accelerate the financial performance of our customers, allowing them to recover and reduce operating costs, create operational efficiencies, improve NOI and FFO and boost resident satisfaction. Additional information is available at www.nwpsc.com.

About Accenture:

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world's most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With more than 180,000 people in 49 countries, the company generated net revenues of US$19.70 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2007. Its home page is www.accenture.com.