Mayor Keller Rolls out New Tool to Bolster Economic Development

Sept. 15, 2020

Mayor Keller announced a new digital tool today, aimed at encouraging City departments to increase their local spending. The ‘Buy Local Dashboard’ will further the administration’s commitment to investing in and strengthening Albuquerque’s economy.

The digital dashboard allows departments to review their current and past spending, conceptualized in clear graphs, and to dig into purchases by category such as IT hardware or vehicles. The next phase of the dashboard will allow local businesses to easily keep up on the City’s needs, so they can plan accordingly for future bids.

“From day one we have been committed to using our buying power to support local businesses, instead of sending those dollars out of state. While we’ve seen tremendous progress in switching over purchases, we still have a ways to go. As State Auditor, I saw that bringing transparency to spending reinforces the importance of buying local and changes behavior. This tool will help us take our buy local initiatives to the next level,” said Mayor Tim Keller.

This dashboard is the result of the City’s multi-departmental team responsible for using data and evidence based-strategies to increase local spending. The team consists of the Mayor’s Office, Office of the CFO, the Economic Development Department, the Office of Equity and Inclusion, the Department of Finance and Administrative Services and the Procurement Division. Haley Kadish, Performance and Innovation Officer, and her team have taken the lead on the project and spent almost a year gathering data to improve the process.

“Every dollar we spend, from small purchases to large contracts should be considered. What we found in gathering data was that the City was making even some simple purchases, like printers and vehicles, through non-local vendors because of convenience or habit. Not only are these some of the easiest purchases to switch over to local, but they also add up to a large chunk of City spending every year,” said Haley Kadish.

One example is the contract with Diverse Office Supply, a local woman-owned business that focuses on employing people with special needs. Their four-year contract totals an estimated $5,000,000.

“Partnering with the City, Diverse Office Supply can then hire more adults with special needs; earning real wages and working real jobs with real benefits; while also reducing the carbon footprint of many items they purchase. This is a win-win for Albuquerque!” said Kerry Brennan Bertram, President and CEO of Diverse Office Supply.

To date, the City has switched $16.6 million in contracts to local vendors.