How the City of Livermore Made Procurement More Accessible, Collaborative, and Digital With SOVRA

How the City of Livermore Made Procurement More Accessible, Collaborative, and Digital With SOVRA 

After inheriting a paper-heavy procurement process, the City of Livermore used SOVRA to simplify electronic bidding, make procurement easier for new staff, and turn past procurement activity into a resource for future projects. 

At a glance 

Customer: City of Livermore, California


Challenge: Paper-based processes, decentralized procurement, and reliance on institutional knowledge 
Solution:

SOVRA 
Results: 

• Electronic bid submissions  
• Easier access to procurement information  
• Greater visibility into vendor and agency activity  
• Easier documentation for public records requests  
• Less intimidating procurement processes for newer staff  

The City’s Evolution 

Founded in 1869 and home to both California’s oldest wine region and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the City of Livermore has always held its small-town roots and big ambitions side by side. Today, the city is home to nearly 90,000 people, with a growing community and increasingly complex procurement needs. For Olivia Mahedy, that became especially clear when she stepped into a purchasing role and inherited a process that was still heavily dependent on paper, old bid packets, and institutional knowledge.

When institutional knowledge walked out the door

When Livermore’s longtime purchasing specialist retired, Senior Account Clerk, Olivia Mahedy was relatively new to procurement herself. She had joined the team only months earlier to assist the purchasing specialist, and suddenly found herself responsible for navigating processes she was still learning. 

The challenge wasn’t simply learning procurement. It was figuring out how to navigate a process that depended heavily on historical knowledge.

When a new procurement came up, the team often went back to old bid packets and asked what had been done years earlier.

For Olivia, the process felt increasingly outdated.

“It just felt kind of archaic to my…fresh brain to the system.”

Livermore began looking for a more modern approach, including a way to move away from paper bids and bring more of its procurement process online.  

Bringing procurement and engineering onto one platform

Livermore’s procurement operation is decentralized. Purchasing handles certain categories, while engineering manages its own bids for capital improvement projects.

That made finding a solution that could work across teams especially important. 

The engineering team was already looking for a replacement after its previous platform was sunsetted. After evaluating options, the teams found that SOVRA could give them a shared environment, including unlimited users and functionality that worked for both groups.

The engineering team’s buy-in became an important part of the decision.

“We really wanted to combine all of our resources.”

Livermore moved forward with a paid SOVRA subscription and added functionality for evaluations and other procurement needs.  

Replacing paper bids with a digital process

One of the biggest changes was also one of the simplest: bids could be submitted electronically. 

Previously, someone needed to be at the City’s front counter to receive and stamp physical bids. With the procurement team located on the second floor of City Hall, even the logistics of getting a bid to the right place could create unnecessary uncertainty. 
Now, bids arrive electronically with a clear digital record.

That visibility has even helped Livermore resolve questions from suppliers. In one instance, a vendor believed they had submitted a bid, but Livermore was able to work with SOVRA’s team to confirm that the vendor had not actually logged in around the relevant time.

Instead of relying on a physical packet or trying to reconstruct what happened, the team had a digital record to reference.  

For Livermore, the change also benefits suppliers.

Rather than driving to City Hall or paying for a courier to deliver a bid, suppliers can submit electronically, reducing the risk that something as simple as traffic or delivery logistics prevents a bid from arriving on time.  

Making procurement less intimidating 

The impact goes beyond replacing paper. 

Livermore has been able to give departments and newer employees more independence while maintaining oversight from the purchasing team.

Instead of collecting physical packets and routing them through multiple departments, teams can complete a pre-review with risk management, attorneys, and department heads before uploading their materials.

The procurement team’s role has shifted from managing every step to guiding users through the process.

Olivia said that change has made procurement feel less cumbersome and less intimidating for people who are new to the process.  

Turning other agencies’ experience into a procurement resource

One of the unexpected benefits has been the ability to learn from what other agencies are doing. 

When a department approaches Olivia about an upcoming bid, her team can search the platform for examples from other agencies, identify relevant vendors, and use that information to guide the conversation.

Instead of sending a broad email to other agencies asking whether anyone has handled a particular procurement, staff can search first and then reach out directly to the agencies with relevant experience.

“It’s given guidance to a lot of people that are new.”

That has become particularly valuable when Livermore encounters something new, including emerging procurement needs related to AI. Staff can look at how other agencies have approached similar procurements, compare examples, and use those experiences to inform their own work.  

Preserving knowledge for the next generation of procurement professionals

For Olivia, that access to historical information is especially meaningful because she has experienced firsthand how quickly institutional knowledge can disappear. 

When experienced employees retire or move on, the next person shouldn’t have to start from scratch.

Livermore is increasingly able to document procurement activity, past vendor experiences, and other information that can help staff make better-informed decisions in the future.

As Olivia explained, without that record, someone could encounter the same vendor years later and have no idea that previous staff had already experienced problems.

Having that information documented gives the next generation of procurement professionals a starting point.  

A procurement process built for what’s next

Livermore isn’t finished modernizing. 

Looking ahead, Olivia wants the City to make procurement feel even more accessible, including expanding opportunities for informal bidding and making it easier to engage local vendors.

She also sees an opportunity to bring more of the procurement lifecycle together, including contract management and earlier pre-review.

The goal isn’t simply to add more technology. It’s to reduce the number of disconnected steps procurement professionals have to navigate and make the process easier for everyone involved.  

And that’s ultimately how Olivia describes her experience with SOVRA:

“I feel like it checks all the boxes. I don’t have to have my hand held throughout the whole process, but when I need some guidance, I know the SOVRA team is there and knows what they’re doing. I feel like we’re being taken care of, and I’m confident that will continue.” 

For a procurement professional who inherited an outdated process and had to learn quickly, modernization has meant more than going paperless. It has meant making procurement easier to navigate, easier to learn, and easier to build on.