Hospital Supplier Diversity Plans

1. Policy Statement

Supplier Diversity Policy Statement

The Los Angeles County (LA County) Department of Health Services (DHS) is the nation's second largest municipal health system. Through an integrated system of four hospitals, 26 local health centers supplemented by a network of community partner clinics, DHS is committed to ensuring that business enterprises encompassing and reflecting the populations that comprise LA County, which includes minority, women, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and disabled veteran business enterprises have full and equal access to all DHS procurement and contracting opportunities.

2. Goals and Timetables

Please describe your hospital's short-term goals and timetables, but not quotas, for increasing procurement from women, minority, LGBT, and disabled veteran business enterprises

DHS' short-term diversity procurement goals over the next 12 to 18 months: 1) Provide assistance to procurement staff in identifying diverse vendors for procurement opportunities. 2.) Continue delivering training to procurement employees on LA County’s Community Business Enterprise (CBE) Program, which certifies minority, women, disabled veteran, disadvantaged, and LGBT owned businesses. 3) Expand outreach and engagement with diverse vendors by attending supplier diversity events. 4) Further identify DHS vendors that are not yet registered in the CBE Program and proactively assist them through the certification process.

Please describe your hospital's long-term goals and timetables, but not quotas, for increasing procurement from women, minority, LGBT, and disabled veteran business enterprises

DHS' long-term diversity procurement goals for the 18-to-36-month period include: 1) Collaborating with the Los Angeles County Internal Services Department and Los Angeles County Department of Economic Opportunity to increase procurement opportunities for diverse vendors. 2) Advancing supplier inclusion by engaging with diverse vendors to review their capability statements and identify potential opportunities where they may be able to bid. 3) Broadening the base of certified diverse suppliers to increase overall spend with women, minority, LGBT, and disabled veteran businesses.

3. Outreach and Communication

Please describe the methods in which the hospital encourages and seeks out both prime and subcontract suppliers from women, minority, LGBT, and disabled veteran business enterprises to become potential suppliers

DHS demonstrates a commitment to supplier diversity by engaging with women, minority, LGBT, and disabled veteran owned businesses. In accordance with LA County Board of Supervisors Policy 5.010, DHS supports the CBE Program to ensure these businesses have full and equal access to procurement and contracting opportunities. The CBE Program, managed by the LA County Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO), maintains a publicly accessible list of certified CBEs on the LA County Procurement Services website. The CBE Program provides visibility for diverse suppliers and streamlines access for County procurement employees. To further broaden participation, DHS participates in vendor fairs, workshops, and outreach events, where current and potential CBE suppliers are informed about the benefits of the County's certification programs. Together, these efforts foster a more inclusive and equitable procurement environment.

Please describe the methods in which the hospital encourages its employees involved in procurement to seek out women, minority, LGBT, and disabled veteran business enterprises to become potential suppliers

DHS provides awareness, training, and tools to procurement employees to assist them to identify potential minorities, women, disabled veterans, disadvantaged, or LGBT suppliers for potential bidding opportunities. These efforts are designed to promote inclusive sourcing practices, strengthen outreach, and support a more equitable and competitive procurement environment within the County's procurement system.

Please describe the methods in which the hospital conducts outreach and communication to women, minority, LGBT, and disabled veteran business enterprises

DHS promotes outreach to women, minority, LGBT, and disabled veteran-owned businesses through ongoing collaboration with LA County DEO. DHS procurement employees participate in events hosted by LA County and external organizations, where they engage with potential suppliers, exchange procurement insights with other departments, and share information about the LA County's CBE Program to foster connections and expand procurement opportunities for diverse businesses.

4. Support and Supplier Resolutions

Please describe the methods in which your hospital supports, partners with, or interacts with organizations and other entities in the procurement ecosystem that promote, certify, or contract with women, minority, LGBT, and disabled veteran business enterprises

DHS engages with organizations that support women, minority, LGBT, and disabled veteran-owned business by participating in attending outreach events, collaborating with business advocacy groups, and providing guidance to prospective vendors. These efforts strengthen relationships with diverse suppliers and expand equitable procurement opportunities.

Please describe the methods in which your hospital resolves any issues that may limit or impede an enterprise from becoming a supplier

DHS maintains open communication with vendors to understand and assess their specific challenges. Procurement employees provide support to suppliers throughout the registration and certification processes. When issues arise, procurement employees work closely with the vendor to troubleshoot problems and connect them with appropriate resources. This coordinated approach ensures that suppliers receive the guidance necessary to navigate the registration process and better understand the County's procurement procedures, thereby enhancing their ability to participate in procurement and contracting opportunities.

5. Diversity Commission Recommendations and Planned Implementations

Please describe the past implementation of relevant recommendations made by the Hospital Supplier Diversity Commission

DHS has implemented several key recommendations from the Hospital Supplier Diversity Commission to advance supplier diversity across its operations. These actions include the development of a supplier diversity policy statement to promote the utilization of diverse suppliers. DHS also launched the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism (EDIA) program to address systemic health equity priorities and strengthen organizational accountability in this work. To further support participation by diverse businesses, DHS modified its contract bidding practices to allow service contracts, where feasible, to be unbundled, creating more opportunities for local, small, and diverse enterprises to more competitively participate in contracting process. DHS further partnered with Vizient and SupplierGateway to establish the data infrastructure and analytics capabilities needed to track supplier diversity progress and outcomes. In addition, supplier diversity has been reinforced as an organizational priority through direct engagement with DHS executive leadership. DHS Supply Chain Operations has designated an EDIA Analyst to serve as the supplier diversity lead.

Please describe the planned implementation of relevant recommendations made by the Hospital Supplier Diversity Commission

DHS Supply Chain Operations has implemented an additional recommendation this year, building on the multiple recommendations from the Hospital Supplier Diversity Commission that have already been put into practice. We will continue reviewing the remaining recommendations to assess their feasibility and, where appropriate, develop implementation timelines.

6. Procurement Process and Certification

Please describe your hospital's procurement process

DHS upholds a professional, ethical, and transparent procurement process that ensures all purchasing decisions are made with integrity and in alignment with County values. DHS employs several solicitation methods to acquire goods and services based on the nature and value of each procurement, including, but not limited to 1) Telephone/Fax/Letter Bids (Quote): Typically used for quick, direct solicitations. 2) Request for Quotation (RFQ): Informal bids used for acquisitions. 3) Request for Bid (RFB): Formal bids. 4) Request for Proposal (RFP): Used when procuring services-or a combination of services and supplies-where factors beyond cost are considered in evaluating proposals. All solicitations for goods or services valued at more than $25,000 are publicly posted on the County's Doing Business With - Los Angeles County public website. The solicitations on this website can be sorted by department or commodity. Additionally, we utilize Vizient Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) agreements.

Website Link(s)

https://doingbusiness.lacounty.gov

Do you require suppliers to be certified?

Yes

Do you accept self-certification

No

7. Diverse Supplier Spending

Diverse Procurement Spending by Minority

For the reporting period, enter the dollar amounts procured by your hospital from those business enterprises that employ the majority of their workforce in California.

Diverse Procurement Spending by Other

For the reporting period, enter the dollar amounts procured by your hospital from those business enterprises that employ the majority of their workforce in California.

What is your hospital's total procurement (including diverse and non-diverse suppliers)?

$309,997,194

Procurement means the purchase or lease of supplies, services, equipment, and capital expenditures related to buildings and fixed equipment during the previous calendar year. Procurement does not include items such as employee salaries and wages, fixed asset depreciation, amortization, or taxes.

8. Supplier Point of Contact

Enter the contact information for the individual that business enterprises who are interested in contracting with your facility can reach out to.

Name: Blaine Campbell

Enter the contact information for the individual of the diverse business outreach liaison of your hospital.

Name: Blaine Campbell

Hospital Contacts for Diverse Business Enterprises are available upon request. Please send request via email to supplier.diversity@hcai.ca.gov

9. Third Party Procurement

Third Party Procurement

• Vizient Inc.
• https://www.vizientinc.com

10. Other Relevant Information

The Tier 1 Diverse Procurement Spend in this report includes certified, self-certified, and suppliers identified as diverse. The self-certified suppliers were included in the Diverse Procurement Spend on this report because the SupplierGateway data tool does not differentiate between certified, self-certified, and suppliers identified, however, we answered "No" to the question regarding acceptance of self-certification, as Los Angeles County does not recognize self-certification for internal tracking and monitoring purposes. Medical school and hospital affiliation agreement expenditures were excluded from the hospital’s total procurement, as these do not meet the definition of procurement under AB 1392. Due to data limitations, we couldn't separate sales taxes from some portions of the "hospital's total procurement" (and associated Tier 1 Diverse Procurement Spend). In addition, the current Tier 2 spend data collection platform supports reporting only by minority classification rather than by specific ethnicity, and its reporting structure is configured at the system level rather than the facility level. We are looking into ways to provide more detailed Tier 2 spend data on future reports.

Looking for Related Reports?

• Equity Measures Hospital Report
• Hospital Profile
• Hospital Fair Billing Policies