L.A. County Supervisors Move to Modernize County Procurement Systems to Save Costs and Time

Today, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a motion authored by Supervisor Kathryn Barger and co-authored by Supervisor Janice Hahn to modernize and transform the County’s approach to purchasing and contracting.

“Investing in modern, paperless technological solutions to standardize our County’s procurement practices will yield significant time and cost savings,” said Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents the Fifth District. “A simplified user experience will also improve our ability to engage small business owners and help them do business with the County. We spend approximately between six to eight billion dollars annually for a variety of goods and services. Procurement is absolutely a critical component of how County government delivers goods and services to our residents.”

Although its Internal Services Department serves as a centralized hub for commodities and common purchases, Los Angeles County’s 37 departments manage many of their own procurement transactions using a variety of systems, protocols and procedures.

“The County’s procurement system is outdated and sorely in need of an upgrade,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn. “Our goal is to modernize how we purchase products and contract with local businesses so we can ensure we are serving the people of Los Angeles County in the best and most efficient way we can.”

The motion names the County’s Quality and Productivity Commission as one of the entities that will lead the work of transforming the County’s procurement systems. The Commission has identified procurement modernization and transparency as one of its primary goals and is empowered to introduce private sector expertise into the County’s productivity improvement efforts.