Supply Chain News Spring, 2007 Supplier & Customer Relations Newsletter Volume 4, Issue 2 SPOTLIGHT: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTS GROUP Inside this issue: T he Information Technology Group is one of six commodity groups within the Supply Chain Services Organization. The Group, led by Procurement Supervisor Carmelita Legaspi, purchases a range of products for City departments, including: Information Technology Group Listing Information Technology Group Article, continued 2 2 Computer Hardware, Software and Maintenance; Radio Communications Equipment and Supplies; Telephone, Fax, Paging and Wireless Equipment; Electronic components (Excluding Lab Equipment); Fiber-Optic Cable; Plotters and Supplies. Profile: Bureau of Street Lighting 3 Supplier Survey Article, continued 3 From left to right are Marcus Strassner, Carmelita Legaspi, Maria Dolly Rodriguez, and Pierre Riotoc Carmelita came to the City in April 1986 with a bachelor s degree in Business Administration and work experience in the economic research arm of (Cont. on page 2) Connecting to the City of Los Angeles Supply Chain Services Listing 4 4 SUPPLIERS EVALUATE CITY PROCUREMENT s part of the General Services Department, Supply Services Divi- A sion s on-going effort to improve its procurement process, the Division has completed a survey of the top 50 City suppliers in terms of dollars spent by the City during fiscal year 2006. A total of 28, or 56% of the 50 potential respondents, returned completed surveys. The survey consisted of twenty-eight multiple-choice questions and two yes/no questions. The questions examined all facets of the purchasing process, from original bid/proposal through the payment process, from the supplier s point of view. Respondents were given room and opportunity after each purchasing activity category to describe the problems they have encountered in that particular area of the process. Six purchasing activities or categories were examined by the questions: bid/proposal preparation and processing; initial contract document design and handling; ongoing contract administration; user competency in ordering and receiving; payment process; and supplier relations. Respondents rated questions as excellent, satisfactory or unsatisfactory. Questions that received no response are rated N/A. Ratings by suppliers were favorable. Highlights of the survey are as follows: 96% of respondents scored the City as satisfactory or better in all six categories. 4% of respondents scored the City as unsatisfactory. There was a.33% N/A rate. (Questions that did not apply or for which the vendor had no information received a N/A.) By category, respondents rating the City as satisfactory or above are as follows: bid/proposal, 95%; contract document, 98%; contract administration, 100%; city (Cont. on page 3)
Information Technology Products Group Supply Services Manager: Tom Kasowski (213) 928-9506 Fax: (213) 928-9512 Procurement Supervisor: Carmelita Legaspi (213) 928-9529 Fax: (213) 928-9511 or 9513 Commodity Staff Contact Phone Fax Computer Hardware, Software and Maintenance Plotters and Supplies Radio Communications Equipment and Supplies; Telephone, Fax, Paging and Wireless Equipment. Maria Dolly Rodriguez (213) 928-9549 (213) 928-9511 or 9513 Marcus Strassner (213) 928-9522 (213) 928-9511 or 9513 Electronic Components Excluding Lab Equipment; Fiber- Optic Cable. Pierre Riotoc (213) 928-9507 (213) 928-9511 or 9513 (Spotlight: Information Technology Products Group, Cont. from page 1) the Congress of the Philippines. She started her career as a Bid Writer in the Department of Water and Power and in 1989 promoted to Buyer at GSD. A year and a half later she promoted to Senior Buyer or Procurement Supervisor, as it is currently called. In 1994 she was accredited as a Certified Professional Public Buyer (CPPB) by the Universal Public Purchasing Certification Council (UPPC). She has maintained this certification through continuing education. The Information Technology Group reports to Tom Kasowski, Supply Services Manager. Consisting of three Procurement Analysts Maria Dolly Rodriguez, Marcus Strassner and Pierre Riotoc the Group administers 55 purchasing contracts and processes an average of approximately 500 One-Time Purchase Orders annually. The Information Technology Group s major customer is the City s Information Technology Agency (ITA). Among the Group s responsibilities are: Reviewing the external marketplace and environment; Exploring contract options from major vendors and other government organizations for possible cooperative purchase arrangements; Exploring innovative cost savings; Identifying stakeholders and forming a commodity contracting team for a project; Facilitating meetings and workshops with the commodity contracting team in terms of developing supplier solicitation strategies and bid specifications that identify user departments needs and requirements; Developing solicitation documents for particular products and services that cover the needs and requirements of the City both now and in the future; Holding pre-bid conferences or open forums for all interested vendors to reach a common understanding of the City bid process, including legal, technical and commercial contract requirements, and the products and services to be acquired; Holding job-walks; Carrying out the competitive bidding process; Conducting rigorous analysis of bid responses; Conferring with the City Attorney and the Mayor s Office for Economic Development to ensure equitable contract awards; Awarding Purchase Orders and Annual Contracts; Conducting pre-award meetings; Advising and training user departments on the City procurement process and City purchasing policies; Facilitating contracting team meetings on issues regarding contract performance. Below are some of the Group s accomplishments: Developed a long-term contract for the purchase of Intel-based computer software that offers a wide selection of software products and provides significant cost savings and cost avoidance for the City; Consolidated five IBM contracts for the maintenance of equipment and software, reducing the City s administrative costs; Established contracts for wireless communication equipment and services via cooperative purchase arrangements with other government agencies; Developed long-term contracts, via sole source procurement method, for the maintenance of communication towers, annual purchase of printed circuit boards, repair of microwave communication equipment, and CA mainframe software products. Page 2 Supply Chain News
PROFILE: BUREAU OF STREET LIGHTING D id you know that there are 7,000 miles of streets in the City of Los Angeles, and that 5,000 of those miles are lighted? A total of 242,000 street lights line those streets, with over 400 different styles currently being maintained. The City Department responsible for the design, construction, operations, maintenance and repair of the City s street lighting system is the Department of Public Works Bureau of Street Lighting, which is one of the Supply Service Division s largest customers. Among the services provided by the Bureau are installation of new electrolier streetlights, upgrading of existing electrolier streetlights, replacement of street lighting systems and street lighting system maintenance and repair. Those wishing information about providing supplies, equipment and services to the Bureau of Street Lighting can contact Marivic Reyes at (213) 928-9531. These Street Lights are Stylin Upper left This dual-pendent style still operates in front of Union Station downtown. Bottom left This 100 foot tall pole is located at Mission Road and Valley Boulevard, Upper right One hundred of these Wilshire Special poles and lanterns decorate Wilshire Boulevard for nearly six miles of its length. (Supplier Survey, cont. from page 1) user competency, 96%; payment process, 88%; supplier relations, 99%. Eighty-nine percent of respondents answered yes to the survey s number 22, Would you consider contracting with the City in the future? An extra effort was made to obtain comments as they relate to the problems suppliers are encountering in each procurement area. Twenty-nine comments were received. Many concerned the bidding process, ranging Category Excellent Satisfactory Totals Bid Process 54% 41% 95% Contract Document 56% 42% 98% Contract Administration 63% 38% 100% from confusion over bond requirements, to a suggestion that all bidders be informed of the winning quote and receive a copy of the winning proposal. There were no comments for the contract document category. In terms of the contract administration category, most comments stated that this category was very good. One called it the best in the west. One supplier in the city user competency category stated that buyers are often not familiar with the products they buy. Another said that end users often do not sign off on jobs upon completion, resulting in payment delays. City User Competency 60% 36% 96% Payment Process 38% 50% 88% Supplier Relations 57% 43% 99% The payment process category received many comments complaining of late payments, as well as complaints about Payment Services taking discounts after the terms have expired. No comments were received regarding Supplier Relations. Volume 4, Issue 2 Page 3 Average 55% 42% 96%
Supplier & Customer Relations Newsletter 111 East 1st Street, Room 110 Los Angeles, CA 90012 Phone: (213) 928-9500 Fax: (213) 928-9518 Email: supply.la@lacity.org Connecting to the City of Los Angeles & Other Pertinent Numbers Telephone # Website General City Information 311 www.lacity.org Small Local Business Certification (213) 847-1922 www.lacity.org/bca Supply Chain News A Quarterly Newsletter Editor: David Haut Tel. #: (213) 928-9551 E-mail: david.haut@lacity.org Business Tax Registration (BTRC) (213) 626-9271 www.lacity.org/finance Office of Contract Compliance (213) 847-1922 www.lacity.org/bca Mayor's Office of Economic Development (213) 978-0699 www.labavn.org Supplier and Customer Relations Director: John Trevgoda Tel. #: (213) 928-9504 E-mail: john.trevgoda@lacity.org Supplier Relations Curtis Watts Brad Duvall Sylvia Moran Eva Gonzalez Katherine Quinn Dailey McCoy Shannon Gooden Rob Orozco Diego Calvera Quality and Process Alfred Lopez Kurt Neswald Manuel Jaquez David Haut Rosie Moore Yolanda Raphael Jamaal Avilez Department of General Services - Supply Chain Services Procurement Group List Director Kenneth Desowitz, C.P.M (213) 928-9557 Supply Services Manager I Michael D. Maliniak, C.P.M., CPPO (213) 928-9537 Industrial Products 928-9512 (fax) General Operations Products Supply Services Manager I Edward B. Schaack, CPPB (213) 485-4894 Automotive Products 928-9512 (fax) Supply Services Manager I Thomas Kasowski (213) 928-9506 Construction and Maintenance 928-9512 (fax) Products Public Safety Products Information Technology Products Commodity Group Procurement Supervisor Telephone # Automotive Products Brillando Valmonte (213) 485-2335 Construction and Maintenance Products Vanessa Sinclair, CPPB (213) 928-9528 Industrial Products Tanesha Smith (310) 648-5669 Information Technology Carmelita Legaspi, CPPB (213) 928-9529 We are on the web! www.lacity.org/gsd/ supplies.htm General Operations Products Isaac Ike (213) 928-9502 Public Safety Products Marivic Reyes, CPPB (213) 928-9531 Page 4