The short version
- Department heads own needs and budgets below the threshold. The IT director, public works director, health director and finance director are the first real buyers for most products.
- Elected officials run their own shops. The sheriff, clerk or recorder, assessor, treasurer or tax collector, and in many states the district attorney, control their budgets and are harder for a county administrator to steer.
- The board of commissioners (or supervisors) approves, it does not shop. Anything over the bid threshold ends up on a public agenda, so by the time it gets there the decision has usually been made.
- Purchasing runs the process; IT and the county attorney can stop it. Most counties require IT sign-off on any technology and legal review of every contract.
- There are about 3,000 counties (3,069 counties, parishes and boroughs per NACo), ranging from a few thousand residents with a part-time board to Los Angeles County's $45 billion-plus budget. Titles scale with size.
How counties are organized
Most counties use one of three structures. In the commission form, the elected board both legislates and administers, with department heads reporting directly to it; common in smaller and rural counties. In the council-administrator (or council-manager) form, the board hires a professional county administrator or manager who runs day-to-day operations and supervises appointed department heads; the most common form in mid-size counties. In the council-executive form, voters elect a county executive separately from the board, creating a mayor-like figure with veto and appointment power; common in large counties and in states like New York, Maryland and Washington.
Across all three, a set of row offices are usually elected independently: sheriff, clerk or recorder, assessor or appraiser, treasurer or tax collector, auditor, coroner, and often the district or county attorney. These officials answer to voters, not the administrator, and buy for their own offices within the budget the board gives them. Selling to a sheriff's office is a different motion from selling to the county administrator, even in the same building.
Counties also differ by state. In Connecticut and Rhode Island counties have no government at all; in New England towns do the work. In Virginia, cities are independent of counties. In Louisiana they are parishes; in Alaska, boroughs. In many states, schools, hospitals, housing authorities and water districts are separate governments with their own boards, not county departments, which is why our GovTech directory treats them as separate buyers.
Who buys what, department by department
Search by department, title or product category.
Showing all 19 departments
| Department | Buys | Influencers | Approval |
|---|---|---|---|
| County administrationCounty manager, administrator or executive and their chief of staff | Enterprise software (ERP, HR, agenda management), consulting, countywide initiatives | Deputy county manager, budget director, CIO | Board of commissioners or supervisors for anything over the threshold; administrator signs below it |
| Board of commissioners / supervisorsElected board; chair rotates in many counties | Nothing directly; approves contracts, budgets and policy. Individual members champion priorities. | Clerk to the board, county attorney, administrator | Public vote on a consent or regular agenda item |
| Finance and budgetFinance director, budget director, comptroller or auditor | Financial systems, payments, debt and treasury tools, audit services, revenue recovery | Treasurer, IT, procurement | Finance director below threshold; board above |
| Procurement / purchasingPurchasing director, procurement manager, buyers | Runs the process rather than owning the need; owns e-procurement and cooperative-contract decisions | County attorney, department heads | Issues solicitations and recommends award |
| Information technologyCIO or IT director, infrastructure and applications managers, CISO | Hardware, cloud, cybersecurity, GIS, networks, help desk, any software that touches county data | Department application owners, state CIO guidance | IT director below threshold; CIO sign-off is often required on all technology regardless of who buys it |
| Sheriff's officeSheriff (elected), undersheriff, chief deputy, jail administrator | CAD/RMS, body and in-car cameras, jail management, inmate communications, vehicles, firearms, training | 911 director, district attorney, county IT | Sheriff controls his or her budget and can commit below the threshold; board approves large contracts and grants |
| Emergency communications (911)911 director or communications center manager | Call handling, CAD, radio, NG911, mapping, quality assurance, staffing tools | Sheriff, fire chiefs, state 911 board | Often a separate authority or board with its own budget |
| Emergency managementEmergency management director | Mass notification, EOC software, planning consultants, FEMA grant management | Sheriff, public health, fire | Grant-funded purchases follow federal rules as well as county rules |
| Fire and EMSFire chief, EMS director (county fire exists in some states; elsewhere fire is municipal or a special district) | Apparatus, records and reporting, scheduling, ePCR, billing | 911, hospitals, state EMS office | Chief below threshold; board above |
| Public healthHealth director or health officer; often a separate board of health | EHR, immunization and WIC systems, case management, outreach, lab services | State health department, medical director | Board of health and county board; much of the money is state and federal pass-through |
| Human and social servicesSocial services director, DSS or human services director | Case management, benefits eligibility tools, document management, client communications | State HHS agency (which often mandates the system), county IT | Director below threshold; many systems are state-selected and county-implemented |
| Public works and engineeringPublic works director, county engineer, fleet manager, facilities director | Asset and work management, fleet, GIS, pavement management, construction management, equipment | Finance, IT, utilities director | Director below threshold; board for capital projects, which are planned years ahead in the CIP |
| Planning, zoning and permittingPlanning director, building official, community development director | Permitting and land-management software, GIS, plan review, code enforcement | IT, county attorney, developers' complaints | Director below threshold; board above; often funded by permit fees |
| Assessor and tax collectorAssessor or appraiser (often elected), tax collector or treasurer | CAMA, tax billing and collection, payments, appraisal data, aerial imagery | State department of revenue, county IT | Elected official controls their budget; board approves contracts |
| Clerk, recorder and electionsCounty clerk or recorder (usually elected), elections director or supervisor of elections | Records and recording systems, agenda management, voting equipment, poll books, ballot printing, voter outreach | Secretary of State, state election code | Elected official controls budget; voting systems must be state-certified |
| Courts and justiceCourt administrator, clerk of court, district attorney, public defender, probation chief | Case management, e-filing, courtroom AV, jury systems, supervision software | State court administrative office (often the actual buyer), judges | Mixed state and county funding; the state AOC decides on many systems |
| Parks, libraries and community servicesParks director, library director, community services director | Recreation registration, library systems, facility management, point of sale | Library board, friends groups, IT | Library boards are often semi-independent with their own budget |
| Human resourcesHR director | HRIS, applicant tracking, benefits administration, training, background checks | Finance (payroll), county attorney, unions | Director below threshold; board above |
| County attorneyCounty attorney or counsel | Legal research, contract and records tools, outside counsel | Everyone: reviews every contract | Reviews terms on all contracts; a slow legal review is a common cause of delay |
How a purchase gets approved
Dollar thresholds vary by state law and county policy; see procurement thresholds by state for the statutory limits that apply to counties in each state.
Showing all 5 tiers
| Tier | Who decides | Process | Your approach |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under the small-purchase thresholdTypically $5,000–$50,000 depending on state and county | Department head, sometimes with purchasing's sign-off | One to three quotes or a p-card purchase; days to weeks | Make it easy: a quote on letterhead, a W-9 and a vendor registration |
| Informal competitionThreshold up to the formal bid limit ($25,000–$100,000+) | Department head and purchasing; administrator may sign | Written quotes from three or more vendors, or a cooperative contract; weeks to two months | Be one of the three; a cooperative contract often substitutes for the quotes |
| Formal solicitationAbove the bid limit | Evaluation committee recommends; board of commissioners awards | RFP or IFB posted 2–6 weeks, evaluation 1–3 months, board agenda, protest window; 3–9 months | Be known to the evaluators before the RFP is written; shape requirements in the budget request |
| Capital improvement plan itemBuildings, vehicles, infrastructure, large systems | Board, through a multi-year CIP adopted with the budget | Appears in the CIP one to five years before purchase; funded by bonds or reserves | Read the CIP; it is a published list of what the county will buy and when |
| Grant-funded purchaseFederal or state grant | Department head, grants manager, with the funder's rules | Follows the grant's procurement rules (2 CFR 200 for federal) plus county rules | Know the allowable uses and help the department write the application |
What this means for your outreach
- Start with the department head who feels the problem, not the board. Commissioners rarely initiate purchases; they approve what staff bring them. A cold call to a commissioner about software usually ends with "talk to our IT director."
- Treat elected row officers as separate accounts. The sheriff's office, the clerk and the assessor each have their own budget, culture and procurement habits. A win with one is a reference, not a foothold.
- Loop in IT and purchasing early, as allies. They will be in the room anyway. An IT director who learned about your product from the department head after the demo is a blocker; one who was invited to the demo is a reviewer.
- Read the budget and the CIP. Counties publish them. The adopted budget tells you what is funded this year; the capital improvement plan tells you what is coming for five. Our fiscal-year calendar shows when each is written.
- Respect the public process. Everything over the threshold is awarded in a public meeting with the vendor's name on the agenda. Commissioners will not vote for a vendor they have never heard of if a constituent might ask why.
- Use the county's own associations. Every state has a county association (the NACo affiliates) and most hold conferences where department heads and commissioners attend together; see our conference list.
Title translation table
The same job carries different names by state and county size. When building a list, search for all of them.
- Top appointed official: county administrator, county manager, chief administrative officer (CAO), county executive (if elected), judge-executive (Kentucky), county judge (Texas, elected and presides over the commissioners court).
- Governing board: board of county commissioners, board of supervisors (California, Arizona, Iowa, Mississippi, Virginia, Wisconsin), commissioners court (Texas), county council (Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, South Carolina, Washington), county legislature (New York), fiscal court (Kentucky), freeholders (now commissioners, New Jersey), quorum court (Arkansas), county board (Illinois).
- Finance: finance director, director of finance and administration, comptroller, controller, auditor-controller (California), chief financial officer.
- Technology: chief information officer, IT director, director of information services, director of technology services, chief technology officer.
- Purchasing: purchasing director, procurement director, purchasing agent, contracts manager, director of general services.
- Human services: director of social services, DSS director, human services director, community services director, job and family services director (Ohio).
Method and sources
Structures and titles are drawn from state county-government statutes, county charters, the National Association of Counties (NACo) and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), and from Kensington Sales Group's outbound calling into county governments across the United States. Thresholds and approval paths are generalized; always check the specific county's purchasing policy. Checked November 7, 2026. Corrections: research@kensingtonsalesgroup.com.
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