ThirdWave to Enhance METRO Vendor/Contract Management Business Processes
January 18, 2019
Seeking to improve existing documentation of procurement practices, ThirdWave was selected over leading consulting firms to carry out a thorough analysis of existing key business processes, procedures, and systems. Selected for our leadership in As-Is/To-Be business process improvement, the project will help achieve efficiencies and deliver successful support to accomplish Metro's mission, goals and objectives. The work product from this project will serve as a guide that internal and external clients can reference to determine how processes are performed.
Unique among the nation’s transportation agencies, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) manages county bus and rail operations, as well as, high occupancy vehicle (HOV)/carpool lanes, freeway service patrol, and bike-ways. Metro is the transportation planner, coordinator, designer, builder and operator of the third largest public transportation system in the US serving more than 9.6 million people within a 1,433-square-mile service area. Metro employs approximately 9,817 full-time staff.
The project employed ThirdWave’s patented Rapid Workflow® methodology to examine business processes within the Vendor/Contract Management (V/CM) Department, comprised of the following functional units:
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Procurement: responsible for efficient and cost-effective acquisition of goods, services, construction, rolling stock, and professional services.
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Logistics: controls inventory accounting, storage, timely distribution of materials, parts and supplies.
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Diversity & Economic Opportunity: promotes procurement opportunities for small businesses and S/DBE firms in support of Agency policy and regulatory requirements; responsible for enforcing Federal and State labor compliance, as well as the PLA/CCP Program.
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Support/Services: supports V/CM's core business Information Systems, logistics management systems, contractor pre-qualification, and administrative support. This includes development and implementation of the acquisition policies and procedures, budget, staffing and training.
ThirdWave’s President/CEO, Roy Hernandez, noted, “We are thrilled to reestablish* our relationship with Metro, which we enjoyed throughout the 1990s. Given the hundreds-of-millions of contract dollars awarded in Metro’s procurement processes, we were privileged to be selected for this engagement.” (*ThirdWave carried out numerous IT projects for Metro in the 1990’s, including acting as the outsourced Metro IT Department (with bd Systems) from 1995 to 1998.)