Andersen & Deloitte - Partners in Consulting?

Today's announcement by Deloitte Consulting that it is investing in Epylon Corp., an online provider of ebusiness solutions for education and government institutions may seem like a new idea to most - but it's old news to Andersen Consulting.

Andersen Consulting announced an arrangement [1] to provide software to Epylon a month ago and AC Ventures, the venture capital unit of Andersen Consulting, already owns a minority stake in Epylon.

So what's all the excitement about Epylon? Epylon [2] is the leading provider of hosted eBusiness solutions for public sector institutions. Bringing government and educational institutions together with suppliers, Epylon streamlines the the entire purchasing process online, including research, quotes, bids, approval, requisition, purchasing, tracking and reporting. This service is provided at no cost to the buying community.