What is happening?

On Thursday, September 10, 2009, O’Brien’s Response Management announced that a letter of intent had been signed to acquire PIER Systems, Inc. The planned acquisition should be completed by the end of November 2009.

How will this benefit PIER and O’Brien’s customers?

This will enable the combined company to offer the best available technology and services covering the full range of response management and communications.

O’Brien’sRM is a global provider of environmental compliance, emergency preparedness, response management, disaster services and crisis management services for numerous industry sectors and government agencies. In addition to professional consulting services, O’Brien’sRM supports their clients with technology solutions including CommandPro®, their automated Incident Command System software and ePlanProTM, an enterprise compliance planning tool. O’Brien’sRM represents the largest market share of Qualified Individual and spill management team providers in the marine transportation and offshore exploration and production sectors.

This acquisition by O’Brien’sRM will provide clients with a total response package backed up by service providers with decades of experience in emergency management and emergency communications. Similarly, O’Brien’sRM clients will benefit from the industry- leading communication technology provided by PIER and the strategic and support services enabling them to communicate more efficiently and effectively with the media, stakeholders and other important audiences.

How will this affect my existing relationship with PIER?

You’ll continue to be served by the same PIER staff you’ve grown to consider to be part of your team. O’Brien’sRM will, of course, honor arrangements PIER has agreed with customers.

Why is O’Brien’sRM buying PIER?

The addition of this Public Information and Emergency Response (PIER) software and PIER’s media and crisis communications services to O’Brien’sRM existing suite of CommandPro® and ePlanProTM emergency preparedness and response management products and services is a natural fit. This will enable the combined company to provide to its customers the best available technology and services covering the full range of response management and communications.

I have a great relationship with my PIER rep—will that continue?

Yes. There is no reason why you should not continue to enjoy the same high level of personal service from PIER representatives.

What changes will I likely see in the future?

The acquisition of PIER by O’Brien’sRM means that PIER will have a strength of experience, resources and infrastructure not previously available to the company. The depth and breadth of consulting and related services will undoubtedly increase and the integration with O’Brien’sRM existing software products will no doubt be a benefit to many clients. However, the focus on providing the very best technology, consulting and services to support PIER’s clients to meet today’s communication challenges will not change. Only the resources and strength to accomplish that mission has been changed.