County operations team launches effort to speed purchasing and payments after year-long review

El Paso Countys operations-excellence team presented a year-long review to Commissioners Court on Aug. 21 that identified bottlenecks in purchasing and accounts-payable workflows and recommended policy updates, standardized training and improved communication to reduce late vendor payments.

The presentation, led by Adriana Chaparro and Ivan Garcia of County Operations with program oversight from Melissa Carrillo, summarized interviews with internal-service departments (purchasing, auditor, budget and grants) and end-user departments. The team reviewed paid-claims data from October 2024 through July 2025 and found the largest delays occurred in two department-level phases: the time from purchasing-issued purchase order to the departments invoice/receipt entry, and the time between receipt of an invoice and entry of a receive record in the countys enterprise resource system.

"What we identified as issues in these three different areas are payment and purchasing, trainings, and communication," Ivan Garcia said, describing the team's categorization of problems.

Why it matters: speakers stressed timely payments preserve vendor relationships, keep contract costs competitive and reduce downstream administrative work. Accounts-payable staff told the team some departments submit payments in bulk rather than as invoices arrive, and some departments do not create receive records promptly, which delays auditor approvals and the check-printing stage.

Proposed remedies: the team outlined a three-pronged approach: (1) policy — revise or create internal policies (accounts payable, contract management) to clarify roles and timelines; (2) training — develop standardized onboarding and refresher training for purchasing, grant and end-user staff; and (3) communication — maintain updated vendor contact lists and improve coordination among purchasing, auditors and departments. The group said phases 1 and 2 of its five-phase plan (stakeholder engagement and problem identification) are complete and it is working on phase 3 (process definition and implementation), with phases 3–5 staged over the next year.

Data and process detail: project staff described the payment workflow as five phases: requisition (department request) to purchase order issuance, purchase order to invoice date, invoice to receive record entry by the department, ERP/auditor approval and paid-claims/check date. The team said a substantial share of the paid-claims delays reside in the department-level invoice and receive-record steps but noted other causes include long lead times for specialty goods and services (for example elevator parts) and inconsistent departmental practices.

Several commissioners urged more formal process mapping and use of recognized frameworks (e.g., Malcolm Baldrige, Lean) and suggested the team provide a visual flowchart showing handoffs and responsibilities. Commissioner Coronado asked whether the team recommends audit-level deep dives for persistent problem areas such as delayed professional payments; staff said they would expand scope as needed and provide follow-up reports and flowcharts.

Next steps: staff committed to produce process maps that show where responsibilities lie, implement standardized training and seek continued feedback from end users. The court did not take formal action; the team will return with updated processes, training materials and progress measures.

Quote: Adriana Chaparro summarized the emphasis: "We are focusing on the actual process getting there, from the time that we procure something all the way to the time of the payment."