Aquila Selects nextSource Inc.'s Talent Acquisition Management Solution (TAMS™)

NEW YORK, July 14, 2003 — Aquila, Inc., a leading gas and electricity distribution corporation has selected nextSource, Inc. and it's Talent Acquisition Management Solutions (TAMS™) to facilitate the entire acquisition process from requisition through payment for it's contingent workforce. nextSource is a leading provider of human capital and services spend management solutions.

As part of the TAMS™ deployment, Aquila will gain access to The PeopleTicker™, nextSource's real-time rate and compensation tool that will allow Aquila to benchmark existing bill rates for contingent workers against current market rates for cost reduction opportunities.

"As the only provider in the human capital market that offers an 'all points' solution, nextSource prides itself on being able to accommodate the broad human capital demands of companies like Aquila who have many changing needs over time" says John Sculley, Chairman of the Advisory Board of nextSource, Inc.

"Our suite of solutions, offered through The People Blue Book™, an online staffing industry source book were created to provide customers a single source for their contingent and full time workforce needs. We look forward to working with Aquila to provide the exceptional levels of service and quality that customers have come to expect from nextSource."

By deploying the 5th generation of TAMS, Aquila will be able to more effectively manage their contingent workforce while achieving their goals of reducing both direct and indirect costs, improving process efficiencies and minimizing the legal risks surrounding the use of contingent labor.

"We expect our relationship with nextSource to streamline our contingent labor process, resulting in lower costs and increased efficiencies," said Vicki Heider, Vice President, Human Resources at Aquila.

For additional information on nextSource's The People Blue Book, please visit http://www.nextsource.com.

About Aquila, Inc.

Based in Kansas City, Missouri, Aquila, Inc. operates electricity and natural gas distribution networks, serving customers in seven states and in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The company also owns and operates power generation assets. More information is available at http://www.aquila.com.

About nextSource

nextSource, Inc. is a leader in the development and implementation of workforce management solutions that address the enterprise-wide challenges associated with the sourcing and management of contingent labor, direct employee hires and deliverable-based project work. nextSource's solutions combine the latest technologies and the industry's best practices, allowing clients to streamline processes, identify and manage their spend, and mitigate risk. The PeopleTicker™, nextSource's most recent innovation, is the industry's only real-time hourly rate and salary benchmarking tool which enables users to monitor market fluctuations for their full-time and contingent workforces to determine current market rates and salary data specific to industry, geographic region, skill-set, and experience level. John Sculley, former CEO of Apple Computer and PepsiCo, Inc., is the chairman of the nextSource Advisory Board. For more information, visit http://www.nextsource.com