Third Quarter 2026 SupplyLine

Advancing Supply Chain Excellence:  Strengthening People, Processes, and Performance

Director's Message

Over the past several quarters, Supply Chain Services has focused on modernizing procurement processes, enhancing transparency, and improving service delivery. As these efforts continue to mature, our focus is expanding beyond process improvement to include performance, accountability, workforce development, and long-term operational excellence. This next phase of our journey is centered on ensuring that the investments we make today create lasting value for LADWP, our customers, and our vendor community.

As a critical support function for the Department's water and power operations, Supply Chain Services plays an important role in ensuring that materials, services, and contracts are delivered efficiently, responsibly, and in alignment with organizational objectives. Building a modern supply chain organization requires more than streamlined processes—it requires strong performance, informed decision-making, and continuous investment in our people.

This quarter, we highlight several initiatives that support our ongoing commitment to excellence. We continue to evaluate opportunities for charter reform that may help streamline procurement activities, reduce award timelines, and increase organizational agility while maintaining appropriate oversight and accountability. We are also advancing our Source-to-Pay efforts to improve the procurement experience for both internal customers and suppliers by creating more efficient, transparent, and user-friendly processes.

At the same time, we are expanding the use of data and performance metrics to support strategic decision-making, identify opportunities for improvement, and drive operational effectiveness. Data-informed decisions help us better understand performance trends, allocate resources effectively, and focus improvement efforts where they can deliver the greatest value.

To further support our modernization efforts, Supply Chain Services is partnering with industry consultants to assess both procurement and warehouse operations, identify leading practices, evaluate organizational capabilities, and develop recommendations that position our teams for long-term success. These assessments provide valuable insights that help ensure our processes, structures, and services remain aligned with industry standards and the evolving needs of the Department.

We are also strengthening our focus on contractor performance and contract accountability. Effective contract management extends beyond contract award and includes ensuring that contractual obligations, performance expectations, and service commitments are consistently met throughout the life of the agreement. Strengthening performance oversight helps protect public resources, support operational reliability, and promote fairness and accountability across our vendor community. 

Equally important is our commitment to workforce development. As our organization continues to evolve, investing in employee training, leadership development, knowledge sharing, and professional growth remains essential. A highly skilled and engaged workforce is critical to sustaining long-term success and ensuring we are prepared to meet future challenges and opportunities.

Together, these efforts reflect our commitment to continuous improvement, operational excellence, responsible stewardship of public resources, and the reliable delivery of water and power services to the City of Los Angeles.