Software Supply Agreement Smooths the Way for Canadian Government Sales
The designation allows Canadian federal entities to buy Leonovus Inc.'s software "off the shelf."
Leonovus Inc. (LTV:TSX.V; LVNSF:OTC), a secure data management software company, today announced that the Systems Software Procurement Division of Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) has awarded it a purchasing agreement for Leonovus software. That agency has implemented a "Software Licensing Supply Arrangement (SLSA) vehicle for the delivery of various off-the-shelf software licenses and related software maintenance and support, as required by Canada in support of its various programs, operational needs, and projects."
This agreement allows any Canadian federal government agency or department to buy Leonovus's software without a Request for Proposal (RFP).
"Any of the over 100 government departments or agencies can now buy Leonovus software 'off the shelf,' which is a huge milestone for the company," said Leonovus CEO Michael Gaffney.
The company's Vault technology is a secure way to store sensitive information across hybrid and multi-cloud storage infrastructures. Smart Filer is a cloud information management solution that analyzes existing file storage and extends its capacity automatically.
The Canadian government has instituted a cloud mandate for its agencies and departments.
"The Canadian government's burgeoning requirement to embrace the cloud or hybrid architectures is our sweet spot with secure and smart data management. We announced that we were nominated and accepted into Innovation Canada's Accelerated Growth Service (AGS) two weeks ago. The AGS assigns a federal innovation advisor to the company. The AGS now combined with the SLSA accelerates government and international software sales opportunities," said Gaffney.
In early March, Leonovus announced that the Canada Department of Justice over the last year has tested Vault and Smart Filer and that the two programs "completed all the feature and performance requirements" of the Department's test plan. The Department of National Defence (DND) has also successfully completed tests of the software.
After the major SolarWind hack in the United States, there has been a renewed focus on security of data stored in the cloud. "We have a hyper secure way of moving data to the cloud and managing data in the cloud. And that's what was vetted by the Department of Justice and by the Department of National Defense," Gaffney told Streetwise Reports.
Mackie Research is leading a syndicate that includes Canaccord Geniuty to market a public offering of up to CA$4 million worth of units for Leonovus. Each unit is priced at CA$0.68, which includes one Leonovus common share and one warrant. The warrant is for the purchase of one common share at CA$0.84 and is valid for 36 months. The offering is expected to close before the end of this month.
Once the offering closes, Leonovus expects to expand its marketing and sales. "The initial task is to hire marketing and sales people who specialize in the Canadian federal government," Gaffney said.
"Over the past twelve to eighteen months, we have focused our resources and efforts on the Department of Justice and DND. Our goal was to prove our solution's powerful benefits supporting the Canadian government's cloud mandate with a few excellent reference customers. Leonovus' innovative software provides our customers with enhanced data security, cloud agility, and cost reduction/management. Given the Government of Canada's cloud mandate, this is a large market for Leonovus software. Our location in Ottawa and our product testing result with two major government departments put us in an ideal position to take advantage of this tremendous market opportunity," Gaffney said.
Leonovus also plans on branching out beyond government agencies. "Our primary focus has been on validating the technology with the Canadian government," Gaffney explained. "But we do expect the private sector to have a big need for it also."
The company is in discussions with a U.S. company that provides body-cam and car-cam data capture for police agencies. "Our technology is a hyper secure way to archive police body cam and car cam video in the cloud at a low cost. There's a huge amount of storage required for video and using Smart Filer and Vault we have a hyper secure and smart way of reducing that cost and storing that in the cloud," Gaffney explained.