Purchasing reforms and Office of Innovation efforts reduce small‑purchase turnaround and identify savings

Cuyahoga County’s purchasing and innovation offices described process changes and outreach intended to speed procurement and capture savings.

Paul Porter, director of purchasing, said the department’s proposed 2026–27 budget is mostly personnel costs and that purchasing processes now support roughly 1,160 active contracts and more than 5,000 purchase orders for 2025 to date. He said recent code…