PRESS RELEASE

Long Beach, CA – The City of Long Beach announced it will transition to a new e-procurement software platform this May. Long Beach Buys, powered by Periscope’s ePro software, is a modern system that will widely enhance the City’s procurement abilities, including the lowering of barriers for small, local and disadvantaged vendors and improved contract management. Long Beach Buys will replace the City’s existing e-procurement platform.  

“We’re continuing to improve our processes to expand opportunities for small businesses and organizations to participate in City purchasing and procurement,” said Mayor Robert Garcia. “This new system is one of many steps we are taking to simplify the procurement process.” 

Long Beach Buys is part of the City’s Extreme Procurement Makeover initiative, which aims to enhance the City’s procurement process to be more efficient, results-driven, equitable and sustainable. Long Beach Buys does this by increasing transparency and accountability for the public, enhancing reporting, and helping with the identification of small, local, diverse, and disadvantaged businesses as part of a comprehensive evaluation and reform of the City’s procurement processes. 

In summer 2021, the Long Beach City Council approved a recommendation to enter into a contract with Periscope Holdings, Inc. to provide a procurement software solution for the management of solicitations, including invitations to bid and requests for proposals, as well as labor compliance and purchasing contracts.  

In February 2022, the City enabled early vendor registration in Long Beach Buys during the run-up to full system launch in May. At that time, Long Beach Buys will have complete functionality and the current system will no longer be utilized for City procurement. Solicitations will continue to be posted for all vendors on the legacy software platform until the full transition is complete. 

To inform the vendor community about these changes and provide resources and support to facilitate the transition to Long Beach Buys, City staff will engage in multiple waves of outreach, including citywide newsletters, listservs, social media, postcards, newsprint advertisements, email blasts and City website updates. Regular updates and tutorials will be provided on the City’s Department of Financial Management’s Purchasing webpage and available in multiple languages, in accordance with the City’s Language Access Policy. 

This effort is made possible in part by funding from the Long Beach Recovery Act, a plan to fund economic and public health initiatives for Long Beach residents, workers and businesses critically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. A portion of the funding has been allocated to support procurement innovation and improvement. Additional information about the Long Beach Recovery Act is available at longbeach.gov/recovery.