{"id":8907,"date":"2025-07-24T11:05:46","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T15:05:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/?p=8907"},"modified":"2025-08-15T13:39:46","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T17:39:46","slug":"city-of-long-beach-leading-with-people-powered-by-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/success-story\/city-of-long-beach-leading-with-people-powered-by-data\/","title":{"rendered":"City of Long Beach: Leading with People, Powered by Data"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Overview<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>

The City of Long Beach, the 7th most populous city in the most populous state and one of the 50 largest cities in the United States, has undergone a remarkable procurement transformation in recent years.<\/p>

When Michelle Wilson stepped into her role as Purchasing Agent for the City of Long Beach, she didn\u2019t just inherit a procurement function; she inherited a perception problem. Departments saw procurement as a barrier. Vendors found the process confusing. Internally, trust was low, and externally, visibility was limited.<\/p>

Fast forward five years, and Long Beach has emerged as a model of what public sector procurement transformation looks like when it’s driven by culture change, community engagement, and transparency. Their journey, dubbed the \u201cExtreme Procurement Makeover,\u201d is a blueprint for how people-led modernization, supported by technology, can create a lasting impact.<\/p>

The Challenge:\u00a0<\/span>Rebuilding Trust and Visibility from the Inside Out<\/strong><\/h2>

Before the transformation began, procurement in Long Beach was seen as slow, opaque, and overly bureaucratic. The systems in place offered little visibility into vendor types or cycle times. Internal departments often avoided engaging with Purchasing altogether, citing confusion and delays as reasons.<\/p>

\u201cWe couldn\u2019t tell our story,\u201d says Michelle Wilson, Purchasing Agent for the City of Long Beach. \u00ab\u00a0Councilmembers were asking, \u2018How much business are we doing with local, women-owned, or minority vendors?\u2019 But we had no way to tell them. We couldn\u2019t prove the impact we knew we were making.\u201d<\/p>

Wilson, a 28-year City veteran with roots in Parks and Recreation, brought an outsider\u2019s lens to procurement, and that\u2019s what made the difference. \u201cI didn\u2019t speak finance when I got here,\u201d she recalls. \u201cI came with a very different and fresh perspective as far as what purchasing even is. I only thought it was complicated, and it was making my life on the other side very hard.\u201d<\/p>

The Strategy:<\/span> A People-First, Data-Backed Transformation<\/strong><\/h2>

The City\u2019s approach unfolded in waves:<\/strong><\/h3>

1. Cultural Transformation First<\/strong><\/p>

Michelle\u2019s first focus wasn\u2019t technology. It was trust. Her team redesigned templates to be more inviting, rewrote communications to make them more accessible outside of Finance, and led \u201cPurchasing 101\u201d training sessions to reset the relationship with internal departments.<\/p>

\u201cWe didn\u2019t lead with systems,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cWe led with empathy and made purchasing make sense again.\u201d<\/p>

That human-first approach laid the groundwork for everything that followed.<\/p>

2. Data-Driven Modernization<\/strong><\/p>

Recognizing that their existing tools provided limited visibility, Long Beach partnered with SOVRA to modernize its entire process. The goal wasn\u2019t just automation; it was insight.<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s really easy to say purchasing is slow,\u201d Wilson explains. \u201cBut we really had to dig into where the slow points were. And if you don\u2019t have a system that kind of captures all of the process, it\u2019s really hard.\u201d<\/p>

With the new platform in place, the City could finally track vendor types, contract status, and business participation across categories like local, minority-owned, and women-owned, a key demand from elected officials that had previously gone unmet.<\/p>

3. Process Transparency and Training<\/strong><\/p>

With better visibility into the full process, the team quickly discovered that the most significant bottlenecks weren\u2019t in Purchasing itself, but instead in the department-led steps at the beginning and end. Writing solicitations and evaluating proposals were often delayed due to confusion or a lack of training.<\/p>

\u201cWe found that departments didn\u2019t know how to create good solicitations, so they avoided it or found ways around the process,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cSOVRA helped us see where the real issues were. And we used that information to educate and empower departments, not just point fingers.\u201d<\/p>

The team launched monthly user meetings, opened channels for anonymous feedback, and prioritized training sessions to rebuild confidence and ownership citywide.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\u201cSOVRA helped us see where the <\/span>real issues<\/span> were. And we used that information to educate and empower departments<\/span>, <\/span>not just point fingers.<\/span><\/span>\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Michelle Wilson<\/strong>, Purchasing Agent for the City of Long Beach<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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4. Community-First Outreach<\/strong><\/p>

Rather than waiting for vendors to engage, Long Beach took the first step. From concerts in the park to webinars and Frisbees printed with \u201cLong Beach Buys,\u201d Wilson\u2019s team built a grassroots supplier enablement campaign that redefined vendor engagement.<\/p>

\u201cWe started really small at like the movies and the concerts in the park,\u201d Wilson shared. \u201cWe handed out Frisbees and pens that said Long Beach Buys… and it was just like an education of, \u2018Hey, we have this new system if you’re a business.\u2019\u201d<\/p>

Long Beach collaborated with SOVRA to revamp onboarding materials, while also hosting webinars and hiring three full-time outreach staff members to guide vendors through the system.<\/p>

The Results:<\/span> From Bottlenecks to Breakthroughs<\/strong><\/h2>
  • A 66% Reduction in Cycle Time<\/strong>
    Solicitation timelines dropped from up to a year to just three months from start to contract.<\/li>
  • Supplier Base Cleaned and Expanded<\/strong>
    Over 700 Long Beach-based vendors are now actively registered, more than double the initial number.<\/li>
  • Bid Participation Surged \u2028<\/strong>
    \u201cWe\u2019ve quadrupled the number of vendors proposing on our solicitations,\u201d says Michelle.<\/li>
  • Transparency Achieved<\/strong>
    The City can now track and report on the participation of LGBTQ+, minority, and women-owned businesses, meeting key Council demands and supporting local preference policies.<\/li>
  • Sustained Executive Buy-In<\/strong>
    Through education and data, procurement earned trust. Today, Council Members invite the purchasing team to speak at community events and view them as a strategic asset.<\/li><\/ul>

    Conclusion:<\/span> Why It Worked<\/strong><\/h2>

    Long Beach didn\u2019t just adopt technology; they led a transformation. With SOVRA\u2019s help, they built a more transparent, inclusive, and responsive procurement operation, one grounded in community needs and modern government practices.<\/p>

    \u201cWe\u2019ve done a great job of telling our story with the data we now have. And our stakeholders can finally see the progress. That\u2019s everything.\u201d<\/p>

    The result? A modern procurement process that\u2019s faster, more transparent, and built to serve.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Overview The City of Long Beach, the 7th most populous city in the most populous state and one of the 50 largest cities in the United States, has undergone a remarkable procurement transformation in recent years. When Michelle Wilson stepped into her role as Purchasing Agent for the City of Long Beach, she didn\u2019t just inherit a procurement function; she inherited a perception problem. Departments saw procurement as a barrier. Vendors found the process confusing. Internally, trust was low, and externally, visibility was limited. Fast forward five years, and Long Beach has emerged as a model of what public sector<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8929,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-8907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-success-story"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8907"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9199,"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8907\/revisions\/9199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8907"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=8907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}