(30 ILCS 500/20-15)

Sec. 20-15. Competitive sealed proposals.

(a) Conditions for use. When provided under this Code or under rules, or when the purchasing agency determines in writing that the use of competitive sealed bidding is either not practicable or not advantageous to the State, a contract may be entered into by competitive sealed proposals.

(b) Request for proposals. Proposals shall be solicited through a request for proposals.

(c) Public notice. Public notice of the request for proposals shall be published in the Illinois Procurement Bulletin at least 14 calendar days before the date set in the invitation for the opening of proposals.

(d) Receipt of proposals. Proposals shall be opened publicly or via an electronic procurement system in the presence of one or more witnesses at the time and place designated in the request for proposals, but proposals shall be opened in a manner to avoid disclosure of contents to competing offerors during the process of negotiation. A record of proposals shall be prepared and shall be open for public inspection after contract award.

(e) Evaluation factors. The requests for proposals shall state the relative importance of price and other evaluation factors. Proposals shall be submitted in 3 parts: the first, price; the second, commitment to diversity; and the third, all other items. Each part of all proposals shall be evaluated and ranked independently of the other parts of all proposals. The results of the evaluation of all 3 parts shall be used in ranking of proposals.

(e-5) Method of scoring.

(1) The point scoring methodology for competitive sealed proposals shall provide points for commitment to diversity. Those points shall be equivalent to 20% of the points assigned to the third part of the proposal, all other items.

(2) Factors to be considered in the award of points for the commitment to diversity component shall be set by rule by the applicable chief procurement officer and may include, but are not limited to:

(A) whether or how well the offeror, on the solicitation being evaluated, met the goal of contracting or subcontracting with businesses owned by women, minorities, or persons with disabilities;

(B) whether the offeror, on the solicitation being evaluated, assisted businesses owned by women, minorities, or persons with disabilities in obtaining lines of credit, insurance, necessary equipment, supplies, materials, or related assistance or services;

(C) the percentage of prior year revenues of the offeror that involve businesses owned by women, minorities, or persons with disabilities;

(D) whether the offeror has a written supplier diversity program, including, but not limited to, use of diverse vendors in the supply chain and a training or mentoring program with businesses owned by women, minorities, or persons with disabilities; and

(E) the percentage of members of the offeror's governing board, senior executives, and managers who are women, minorities, or persons with disabilities.

(3) If any State agency or public institution of higher education contract is eligible to be paid for or reimbursed, in whole or in part, with federal-aid funds, grants, or loans, and the provisions of this subsection (e-5) would result in the loss of those federal-aid funds, grants, or loans, then the contract is exempt from the provisions of this Section in order to remain eligible for those federal-aid funds, grants, or loans. For the purposes of this subsection (e-5):

"Manager" means a person who controls or administers all or part of a company or similar organization.

"Minorities" has the same meaning as "minority person" under Section 2 of the Business Enterprise for Minorities, Women, and Persons with Disabilities Act.

"Persons with disabilities" has the same meaning as "person with a disability" under Section 2 of the Business Enterprise for Minorities, Women, and Persons with Disabilities Act.

"Senior executive" means the chief executive officer, chief operating officer, chief financial officer, or anyone else in charge of a principal business unit or function.

"Women" has the same meaning as "woman" under Section 2 of the Business Enterprise for Minorities, Women, and Persons with Disabilities Act.

(f) Discussion with responsible offerors and revisions of offers or proposals. As provided in the request for proposals and under rules, discussions may be conducted with responsible offerors who submit offers or proposals determined to be reasonably susceptible of being selected for award for the purpose of clarifying and assuring full understanding of and responsiveness to the solicitation requirements. Those offerors shall be accorded fair and equal treatment with respect to any opportunity for discussion and revision of proposals. Revisions may be permitted after submission and before award for the purpose of obtaining best and final offers. In conducting discussions there shall be no disclosure of any information derived from proposals submitted by competing offerors. If information is disclosed to any offeror, it shall be provided to all competing offerors.

(g) Award. Awards shall be made to the responsible offeror whose proposal is determined in writing to be the most advantageous to the State, taking into consideration price and the evaluation factors set forth in the request for proposals. The contract file shall contain the basis on which the award is made.

(Source: P.A. 101-657, eff. 7-1-21 (See Section 25 of P.A. 102-29 for effective date of 101-657); 102-29, eff. 6-25-21.)