Case Study: City of Palo Alto achieves over 50% faster contract turnaround with DocuSign

City of Palo Alto Streamlines the Contract Process with DocuSign

The City of Palo Alto, a longtime digital leader, faced a bottleneck: until 2013 it relied on wet-ink signatures for contracts and internal approvals, creating frequent delays and the risk of lost paperwork. Sending contracts multiple times a week meant turnaround could be as long as 14 days, slowing projects and reducing responsiveness to constituents.

After a legal review and council resolution authorizing secure e-signatures, Palo Alto adopted DocuSign’s Digital Transaction Management (DTM) platform for its flexibility, customization, and ease of use. The city cut contract turnaround by more than half (from up to 14 days to under 5), accelerated approvals, added secure audit trails for supply and equipment requests, and is rolling DocuSign out city-wide—including legislative, HR, and constituent processes—to further streamline operations.

City of Palo Alto

David Ramberg

Assistant Director of Administrative Services Department