Department of Procurement Services – BGA Policy 2027 Budget Snapshot

The Department of Procurement Services oversees the city’s purchasing and contracting processes. 

• DPS has one of the highest vacancy rates among city departments, averaging 26.9% of budgeted positions vacant from Jan-Sept of 2026. Of those vacancies, 18 (14.3%) were persistent vacancies from January to September. 
  
• Despite its high vacancy rate, DPS saw no adjustment in budgeted positions in the 2027 proposal. All budgeted positions and titles remain unchanged from the previous year.

• Most appropriation-level changes in DPS’s budget proposal are minor, with a $819,821 (6.8%) increase in wages and salaries the only adjustment greater than $100,000. 

The Department of Procurement Services’s budget increased significantly from 2021-2024, rising from $8.5 million in 2021 to a high of $14.6 million in 2024. DPS was one of only a small number of non-ARPA funded departments to see a dramatic increase over this period.

From 2011-2026, DPS’s budget grew at an average rate of 6.6% annually, or 4.3% when adjusted for inflation through 2025, compared to a citywide average rate of 5.5% (inflation-adjusted 3.2%). The current proposal would increase the department’s appropriations by 4.6% from the previous year.

Estimated Fringe Costs

City budgets do not break out “fringe” pension and benefit costs for non-grant positions by department, instead grouping them together as citywide expenses under the Finance General section of the budget. To better reflect the real cost of service for departmental operations, BGA Policy has included an estimate of pension and benefit costs for the years 2018-2026, using Department of Finance fringe memos from each relevant year. An estimated fringe cost for the 2027 proposal uses the average annual rate of increase for each of the inputs into the fringe formulae. 

Based on the city’s fringe formulae, the DPS fringe cost for nongrant employees averaged 50.6% from 2018-2026, compared to a citywide average of 26.8%. 

Local Fund Actual Spend

Over the past four complete budget years for which local fund actuals/encumbrances data is available, DPS spent on average 77.8% of its locally funded budget, compared to the citywide average 86.6% local fund spend.

Budgeted Positions & Vacancies

Overall, the department’s budgeted headcount grew at an average annual rate of 3.8% from 2011-2026, compared to a citywide average annual change of -0.1%. The current proposal makes no net change in budgeted headcount.

From January through September of 2026, the months for which full-time position vacancy data is currently available, DPS averaged a 26.9% vacancy rate, one of the highest among city departments, compared to the citywide average of 11.2%. 

18 of the department’s budgeted full-time positions were persistent vacancies (defined as the number of positions within the same combination of title, subsection, section, division, department, and fund codes that remained vacant in all nine months of available data): 

The 2027 proposal makes no changes to budgeted staffing at DPS. Positions and titles remain the same as the previous year. 

DPS is entirely locally-funded in this year’s budget proposal, as in the previous year, with the majority of DPS appropriations made from the corporate fund and smaller amounts from the water, vehicle, and airport funds. 

Largest Appropriations

As with most departments, personnel costs make up the bulk of DPS’s appropriations, with salaries and wages on payroll by far the largest expense category. 

In 2025, the most recent complete budget year for which local fund actuals and encumbrances data is available, DPS spent 88.7% of its locally-funded budget, with no overspend in any categories. 

Change from Previous Year

Most appropriation-level changes in DPS’s budget proposal are minor, with a $819,821 (6.8%) increase in wages and salaries the only adjustment greater than $100,000.