Primary Department: County Administration
Primary Department Head/Elected Official: Erica Lee Carter, County Administrator
Secondary Department: Purchasing
Secondary Department Head/Elected Official: Kimberly J. Williams, JD
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Regular RCA
Type of Request: Discussion Item
Project ID (if applicable):
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable):
MWBE Contracted Goal (if applicable):
MWBE Current Participation (if applicable):
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Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable):
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Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
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Request for approval to establish the Purchasing Optimizing Procurement Speed and Service (OPSS) Project, led by the Office of County Administration and the Office of the Purchasing Agent, and to convene a stakeholder committee consisting of representatives from each Commissioners Court office, the Department of Economic Equity and Opportunity, Public Health, Universal Services, the Office of the County Engineer, the County Auditor’s Office, the Tax Office, and the County Attorney’s Office, to provide input and support for project findings, recommendations, and deliverables.
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Background and Discussion:
Recent department feedback-including results from the County’s 2025 Purchasing Survey and prior analysis of the Procure-to-Pay workflow conducted by Protiviti in 2022- has identified opportunities to improve efficiency, coordination, and transparency within the County’s procurement and contracting processes. Key themes include:
• Extended procurement and contracting timelines driven by workflow bottlenecks and limited staffing capacity.
• The need for improved customer service, clearer communication, and greater predictability for departments; and
• High staff workload, contributing to delays, rework, and inefficiencies.
Prior analyses also highlighted employee frustration and burnout, emphasizing the need for clearer cycle time ownership and improved capacity management.
Collectively, these findings indicate that additional focused support is needed to conduct an intensive, short-term process review and implement improvements while maintaining ongoing procurement operations.
On August 25, 2025, a new Purchasing Agent was appointed to lead the transformation of the County’s purchasing function. Since that time, the Purchasing Agent has initiated a structured, multi-phase approach to departmental improvement, including:
• Phase I: Assessment of current state operations;
• Phase II: Stabilization of core functions based on assessment findings;
• Phase III: Optimization of departmental performance; and
• Phase IV: Full transformation into a high-performing, accountable, and strategic procurement function aligned with County priorities.
The proposed Purchasing OPSS (Optimizing Procurement Speed and Service) initiative will serve as a focused, short-term effort to assess procurement workflows and implement immediate, low-cost process improvements intended to accelerate procurement timelines, improve service delivery, and increase process predictability. Findings, outcomes, and recommendations from the initiative will be compiled into a report to be presented to Commissioners Court in the fall of 2026.
This effort may also be supplemented through targeted consultant support to assist with process improvement and cycle time reduction efforts, provide surge implementation capacity, and contribute specialized expertise in governmental procurement operations and best practices.
This initiative is intended to complement and accelerate the Office of the Purchasing Agent’s broader transformation efforts within Harris County.
Expected Impact:
This initiative is expected to produce measurable reductions in procurement and contracting cycle times, improved consistency and transparency in processes, and more predictable service delivery across County departments.
Short-term consultant engagement is recommended to:
• Add expertise in process improvement and cycle-time reduction
• Add expertise in government procurement processes, procedures, and regulations
• Provide objective perspectives on process improvements
• Provide surge capacity without diverting staff from core operations
• Support implementation of standardized tools and workflows
Consultants would not replace County staff but instead enhance capacity during this concentrated improvement period.
This initiative will be funded with OCA’s existing General Fund budget, and the final project cost will depend on the selected consultant’s proposed staffing approach, final scope of work, and level of implementation support included in the engagement. OCA and Purchasing will return to Commissioners Court for approval of the vendor contract for this engagement, which will include the total cost.
Alternative Options:
Absent this initiative, current procurement timelines, process variability, and communication challenges are expected to continue without significant improvement.
County Strategic Plan Goal: 3. Make our economy more inclusive.
County Strategic Plan Objective: J: Grow the number and size of MWBEs.
Justice/Safety Initiative (Goal 1): Choose an item.
Infrastructure Initiative (Goal 2): Choose an item.
Economy Initiative (Goal 3): J3: Strengthen enabling support and processes for MWBE programming.
Health Initiative (Goal 4): Choose an item.
Climate/Resilience Initiative (Goal 5): Choose an item.
Housing Initiative (Goal 6): Choose an item.
Additional notes related to the Strategic Plan: This initiative is also related to the FY26 Operational Imperative: Procure to Pay
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Anticipated Court Date: 6/11/2026
Anticipated Implementation Date (if different from Court date): 6/15/2026
Emergency/Disaster Recovery Note: Not an emergency, disaster, or ARPA related item
Contact(s) name, title, department: Kimberly J. Williams, Harris County Purchasing Agent; Rachel O’Connell, Sr. Project Manager, Office of County Administration
Attachments (if applicable):