How Orange County is saving time and taxpayer dollars with a free tech tool

Orange County, California, is the 6th largest County in the U.S. Over 250 County deputy procurement officers procure more than $2 billion of goods and services annually. The County also serves as a resource for the more than 30 local public entities within the County, including the City of Anaheim, the City of Huntington Beach, and the University of California, Irvine (UCI). Learn how Orange County uses CoProcure to share local contracts and discover contracts from entities across the nation with a single search.

The need to work together to eliminate redundant work

When Orange County Procurement Officer Maria Agrusa stepped into her role, she quickly realized “there was no collaboration or standardization across the 22 departments, leaving each department on its own to figure things out.” The problem was not only within Orange County’s internal departments but across entities within the County as well.

“We’re all procuring the same goods and services under the same constraints, so why not eliminate the duplication of effort and take advantage of our buying power wherever possible?”

A modern solution

It became clear to Maria that there was a need for a singular space where everyone in the County could share and view contracts. She also knew the County would need a tech tool to accomplish this. At the CAPPO Conference in Pasadena, Maria discovered CoProcure , a free marketplace that empowers public servants to find thousands of shareable contracts from hundreds of local, state, and national sources - all in one place.

“CoProcure was the perfect solution, and the team was just as excited and passionate as we were about building this platform. We immediately sat down in the middle of the conference and began strategizing on a partnership to allow the County to leverage CoProcure’s search engine to support cross-County collaboration.”

To meet Orange County public servants where they already are, CoProcure created its first embeddable search experience . This embed allows Orange County Procurement Alliance members to search all County contracts, plus CoProcure’s growing database of contracts, directly from the Orange County website.

“From kickoff to go-live, implementing the solution with CoProcure took just five business days,” says Maria. “It was amazing!”

A positive impact for all

Today 162 public servants from 46 agencies across Orange County have searched for shareable contracts in one central location with CoProcure .

Saving time for departments and agencies across the County

Not only can the County see its contracts, but it can now easily search thousands of shareable contracts from the State of California, national cooperatives, and hundreds of other sources – with a single click. “There is so much information at our fingertips!” says Maria. Fast access to shareable contracts from local, state, and national entities makes it easier for public servants to save time writing solicitations.

As a surprising bonus, Orange County has found that they have reduced time spent responding to public records requests. In one recent case, rather than assigning a team to pull information together, they directed a requester to CoProcure by simply sending a link - saving hours of staff time.

Achieving cost savings and better value for taxpayers

CoProcure provides a way for procurement teams to save millions of dollars annually by using shareable contracts and taking advantage of economies of scale. Orange County hopes to leverage its immense buying power as a region to continue reducing costs and making the most of taxpayer dollars. Maria shares, “The industry standard savings from utilizing cooperative procurement is between 5-15%. If Orange County, with contract spend of over $2B, can save just 1%, that’s $20M in savings!”

Increasing business for local and diverse suppliers

With easy access to many more shareable contracts, public servants in Orange County are discovering and purchasing from businesses they might not have otherwise. In one instance, John Wayne Airport found a shareable contract with Acronos Corporation, a diverse supplier, on a TIPS contract for airport furniture . At the time, TIPS was not an approved source, but the CPO’s office approved the use of the contract, and the airport could quickly acquire the furniture it needed.

Additionally, publishing Orange County contracts on CoProcure drives more business to local suppliers. Shadowhawk, a local small business with 27 employees based in Orange, CA has gained increased visibility. Five new agencies within Orange have discovered their contract for paper recycling and destruction services since being published.

CoProcure looks forward to continuing to help public servants across the nation work smarter with technology.