Denver Peak Academy

This is part two in our Prompt Payment blog series. You can read the overview post here, and learn more about the city-wide improvements that came out of that.

In 2019, Denver Parks and Recreation (DPR) processed nearly 7,400 invoices ranging from a few dollars each to over $24 million dollars each. With this volume, they were a key player in prompt payment improvements, and Megan Allsop has been DPR’s woman to get it done! Megan has been involved in the prompt payment efforts since Peak facilitated the initial workshop in January of 2020, and she has continued to contribute to this project since that time.

Historically, DPR has not handled many construction contracts, but over the past year they have been shifting to take on more capital maintenance/repair services contracts. However, DPR was lacking a sufficient invoicing infrastructure to support these efforts. Specifically, most of the City uses an application called Textura to manage construction-related projects because it offers a single point of submission and enhanced transparency throughout the lifecycle of the projects. This transparency through a single tracking point creates efficiencies that ultimately help reduce payment times and provide a better contractor experience.  

Megan is DPR’s prompt payment champion because she led the initiative to get DPR’s parks installation, maintenance, rehabilitation, & renovation services contracts running in the Textura application. Her counter-parts in the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) already utilize this application and were incredibly helpful in sharing their insights into the tool to help DPR transition to Textura, but she did most of the heavy lifting conducting background research, gaining insights from Textura representatives, and most importantly, working to identify a funding mechanism for the use of the technology.

Megan also created online trainings both for internal employees processing contracts and external contractors engaging with DPR. This city-wide training effort was headed up by Travis Bogan and DOTI, but Megan was single-handedly responsible for ensuring it was adapted to meet DPR’s target audience implemented within the agency. When asked about the project, Megan was most proud of the training because, “education is the first and most important step!”  

We commend Megan for her commitment to these improvements. While many of the agencies had a handful of people working on prompt payment improvements, Megan carried much of the weight of DPR on her own, and did so beautifully. She was a collaborator in the truest sense asking thoughtful questions, being mindful of other’s experiences, and maintaining focus on the end goal. Megan has been a huge part of what has made this project successful and we commend her efforts!