Description and History

Founded in 1869 by inventor Elisha Gray and entrepreneur Enos Barton, Graybar is a Fortune 500 company and a leading distributor of high quality electrical, communications and data networking products. Graybar also specializes in related supply chain management and logistics services for our customers.

Through our network of more than 260 North American distribution facilities, Graybar helps customers power, network and secure their facilities with speed, intelligence and efficiency.

From our humble beginnings more than 144 years ago to becoming one of North America’s largest employee-owned companies, Graybar has a long history of working to our customers’ advantage.

As a distributor, our success is driven by the success of our customers. We take great pride in listening to our customers’ needs, connecting them to the right solutions and then delivering on our word.

Products/solutions unique to the government

Graybar stocks and sells products from thousands of manufacturers for a variety of applications including data centers, industrial, energy management, construction, facility maintenance, security and lighting to name just a few.

As a leading distributor, Graybar has a long history of supporting government customers at the federal, state and local levels. This is accomplished through a strategic team focused on government organizations like NIGP and many others. This focus enables us to better understand your organization and the solutions that best fit your needs. In addition to that dedicated support, Graybar also has more than 700 sales representatives nationwide assisting our local government and education customers.

Over the years, Graybar has helped many government agencies save time, money and improve efficiencies in the procurement process thanks to our products and solutions. Whether that’s implementing an energy management program at a school, helping a city standardize its power distribution or providing energy efficient lighting in a downtown area. This type of commitment has been at the core of our relationship with government customers for years. 

An example of a government-related project that was innovative - something that helped solve a problem or contributed a solution

We have worked with many agencies to educate them on new ideas for improving their operational efficiencies through the deployment of new technologies, often combining technologies to optimize or fine tune their building systems. Our U.S. Communities contracts provide a great way to expedite the process, at an outstanding value.

New technologies being developed or adopted that will have an impact on the way products and/or services are delivered

We see more web enabled processes, mobility solutions, and online collaboration tools efficiency drivers for the future.

Suggestion for improving the procurement process...

Don’t duplicate your efforts; it improves efficiency and reduces confusion.   

As an Enterprise Sponsor, Graybar hopes to impact the public procurement community by...

Our focus is building long term relationships with agencies, and helping them understand the different levels of investment required, to achieve different business goals like better wireless access or low maintenance lighting solutions.