Welcome

Thank you for your interest in doing business with Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP). IEHP’s Purchasing Department is constantly looking for suppliers of the varied goods and services it procures.  IEHP procures goods and services through the solicitation process, and in the case of repetitively purchased items, establishes long-term contracts. With the exception of Public Works (construction type bids) and a few specialty bids, most bids for goods and services procured by the Purchasing Department are completed using a third-party solicitation website called Bonfire. Vendors have the option to view IEHP’s open solicitations on the Bonfire website. IEHP invites all vendors to register with Bonfire and participate in IEHP’s fair and open solicitation process for goods and services.

Mission Statement

The Purchasing Department is committed to supporting the mission of IEHP, which is “to organize and improve the delivery of quality, accessible and wellness based healthcare services for our community”. As a community-developed health plan, we are accountable to the public.

IEHP’s Purchasing Department procurement professionals possess the necessary skill set, knowledge base, and negotiating skills to assist IEHP with the acquisition of materials, equipment and contractual services. Utilizing this expertise, our best procurement practices, and the highest standards of professional ethics and integrity, we ensure that procurement decisions made are in the best interest of IEHP and in compliance with all applicable laws, regulations and policies.

For general inquiries, please email Purchasing@iehp.org.

IEHP’s Supplier Diversity Program

Small and diverse businesses drive our economy on both the national and local levels. Promoting an environment for these businesses to thrive is important to IEHP, and we are taking steps to accomplish this by fostering an inclusive procurement process that provides the maximum opportunity for small and diverse businesses to participate as partners and suppliers of goods and services. An additional benefit of ensuring that these suppliers are included in the procurement process is increased competition, which leads to lower costs and increased levels of innovation, service and product quality. By utilizing and partnering with small and diverse companies, IEHP will continue to build a supplier base that contributes to our competitive advantage.

In addition to small businesses, IEHP is interested in engaging with businesses that fall into one or more of the following diversity categories: 

• Minority Business Enterprise (MBE)
• Woman Business Enterprise (WBE)
• Women Owned Small Business (WOSB)
• SBA 8(A)
• Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB)
• Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE)
• Economically Disadvantaged Woman-Owned Small Business (ED-WOSB)
• HUB Zone (HUBZone)
• Veteran Owned Business (VBE)
• Service Disabled Veteran (DVBE)
• Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU)
• Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender (GLBT)
• Alaskan Native
• Disabled
• AbilityOne Program
• Small Business Enterprise (SBE)

These businesses must be at least 51% owned, operated and controlled by persons who fit into one of these categories.  MBE, WBE, LGBTBE and SDVOB businesses must be certified as such by an independent certification agency.  Owners of businesses that fall into the other categories must be willing to sign a self-classification affidavit.

IEHP’s Supplier Diversity efforts include:

• Providing information on our website to explain how to participate in IEHP procurement opportunities so that small and diverse businesses know how to engage in the process
• Identifying services / products that are well represented by small and diverse businesses and pro-actively reaching out to qualified vendors when sourcing opportunities are available

Small and diverse businesses interested in doing business with IEHP should register their companies on the Bonfire website.  Should a sourcing opportunity come available related to the commodity code area for which the company is registered, Bonfire will send out an email notification of the open opportunity.  It is recommended that companies also check the Bonfire website regularly, as IEHP cannot guarantee that the system will notify vendor of all opportunities for which they qualify.