McGraw-Hill Construction and the Association for Facilities Engineering Announce Alliance Agreement
Relationship to Increase Access to Industry Information

NEW YORK -- October 2, 2003 -- McGraw-Hill Construction, the nation's leading provider of construction information and intelligence services, part of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP) and The Association for Facilities Engineering (AFE), today announced that they have entered into an industry alliance. It is designed to advance the flow of information for the customers and members of their respective organizations.

"This is an important partnership," observed Howard Mager, senior vice president of McGraw-Hill Construction and general manager of Sweets. "Over 10,000 vendors and manufacturers providing over 61,000 products participate in the McGraw-Hill Construction Sweets marketplace. Now, facility and plant engineering, operations and maintenance professionals will have increased access to a fuller range of products, enabling them to choose those which best meet their needs."

"Our mission is to provide members with easy and comprehensive access to invaluable resources," commented Gerald Hagen, CPE, president of AFE. "We're excited to be working with the McGraw-Hill Construction Sweets team because, together, we can help our members perform their jobs more effectively."

"This alliance demonstrates our commitment to connect people, projects and products throughout the industry," concluded McGraw-Hill Construction president, Norbert W. Young, Jr., FAIA. "Undoubtedly, AFE members now will have a competitive advantage in selecting the products they need to provide unsurpassed facility engineering operations and maintenance services."

About McGraw-Hill Construction

McGraw-Hill Construction connects people, projects and products across the design and construction industry. From project and product information to industry news, trends and forecasts, the Company provides industry players the tools, resources and applications that help them save time, money, and energy. Backed by the power of Dodge, Sweets, Architectural Record, Engineering News-Record (ENR) and our Regional Publications, McGraw-Hill Construction serves more than one million customers within the $3.4 trillion global construction community. For more information, visit www.construction.com.

About The McGraw-Hill Companies

Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies is a global information services provider meeting worldwide needs in the financial services, education and business information markets through leading brands such as Standard & Poor's, BusinessWeek and McGraw-Hill Education. The Corporation has over 350 offices in 33 countries. Sales in 2002 were $4.8 billion. Additional information is available at www.mcgraw-hill.com.

About The Association for Facilities Engineering

AFE is the leading membership organization providing education, certification, technical information and other relevant resources for plant and facility engineering, operations and maintenance professionals worldwide. Additional information is available at www.afe.org.

COMPANY CONTACTS:

McGraw-Hill Construction
Kathy Malangone
212-904-4376
kathy_malangone@mcgraw-hill.com

PORTFOLIO PR
Jerry Cahn
212-736-9224
jcahn@portfoliopr.com

AFE
Anne Jacobson
513-489-2473 x22
ajacobson@afe.org

SOURCE: The McGraw-Hill Companies