Q&A WITH JACK PELLEGRINO.

• Author: Mucha, Mike
• Position: IN PRACTICE | INTERVIEW

Mike Mucha, GFOA's deputy executive director, met up with Jack Pellegrino, NIGP-CPP, CPPO, CPCM, the director of purchasing and contracting for the County of San Diego, California, and past president of the California Association for Public Procurement Officials (CAPPO). At the CAPPO 2023 conference, Jack and Mike gave a presentation on the need for better coordination between finance and procurement, and here they discuss the county's approach to customer service, the evolution of procurement, attracting new talent to the profession, and the role of professional associations in developing employees.

Mike: I've heard you say that more than $2 billion in purchasing transactions flow through your office. Can you tell us about the department and your role?

Jack: San Diego County is a large organization with 48 departments, more than 19,000 employees, and a budget of approximately $7.3 billion. The Department of Purchasing and Contracting is a single-point shop for all things procurement with the county. We operate under a very centralized model to support county departments and have really stressed client-focused procurement and being able to provide good customer service to assist with departments' ability to provide services. The Department of Purchasing and Contracting has an overall staff of 74 people, which includes 64 procurement staff. The procurement staff are aligned to focus on county departments by groups. Groups include health and human services, FG3 (finance and government), land use and environment, and public safety.

Coming out of college, did you always know you wanted to work in public procurement?

I earned an economics major and business minor from Benedictine College and like most people currently working in procurement, I sort of fell into the profession. Out of college, I started out working for TRW Electronics and Defense in a purchasing role. They were involved in the aerospace industry and were a supplier for the Department of Defense. I was then able to further develop in my career, moving up to higher-level positions in procurement with two other firms, Hughes Aircraft and Science Applications International. I really enjoyed how procurement was able to play a critical strategic role in the firm. We were involved in key decisions because each of those firms understood that our ability to deliver, as a company, relied on our ability to source materials and ensure a high-quality supply chain. Our ability to compete for business was based on how well our supply chain worked. For me, I also liked that I had an opportunity to get involved in both sides of a deal--both securing new business and helping to execute successfully.

What led you to switch to the public sector and take a job with the county?

I really wanted to be connected to public service. The county's motto is "The noblest good is the public good," and I can say that I find it more fulfilling than just working for the business bottom line.

What did you find was the biggest difference in working in the public sector versus the private sector?

The biggest change or thing to get used to in moving from the private sector to the public sector was the level of transparency that exists in local government procurement. Even though we participated in procurement processes for the federal government, local government is different. In the private sector, we were careful to treat most of our information as proprietary to protect our competitive advantages. Our approach to projects, pricing, and even suppliers was that what we were using was all confidential information. This is not appropriate for public entities, where just about everything becomes public record. I would say that another big difference was the speed of the procurement. Because there wasn't a focus on transparency, we were able to move much faster and involve fewer people, and therefore our processes and procedures were not as robust.

I've heard many times that working in the public sector is more difficult. Did you find that to be true?

At times, it can be frustrating that we aren't able to complete procurements faster, but I completely understand the need for transparency and didn't find that to be difficult. What was most challenging for me, coming in as department director, was navigating...