Section 680.220  Earning Bid Credits

a)         Contractors or subcontractors may be eligible to earn bid credits by employing qualified apprentices on public works and non-public works projects in Illinois.

b)         By January 30 of each calendar year, the Department shall post on its website and the mean statewide prevailing wage for each construction trade.

c)         For each hour a qualified apprentice works, the qualified apprentice earns $0.50 of bid credits per dollar of the mean statewide prevailing wage of the qualified apprentice's trade.

d)         Contractors and subcontractors who wish to participate in the Bid Credit Program who employ a qualified apprentice shall submit a Bid Credit Apprentice Report to the Department.

1)         A Bid Credit Apprentice Report shall be submitted to the Department by the 15^th of each month for work that was performed by a qualified apprentice.

2)         The Bid Credit Apprentice Report will record the county of the program the apprentice graduated from and the county in which the apprentice performed the creditable work. The Department will collect this data and present it on its website quarterly.

3)         If the contractor or subcontractor employed the qualified apprentice on a public works project, the contractor or subcontractor shall file the certified payroll for the qualified apprentice for whom the credit is requested with the Illinois Department of Labor.

4)         If the contractor or subcontractor employed the qualified apprentice on a non-public works project, the contractor or subcontractor shall provide the Department with certified payroll for the qualified apprentice for whom credit is requested.

e)         After processing the Bid Credit Apprentice Report, the Department shall notify the contractor or subcontractor of the total number of bid credits earned by the contractor or subcontractor with respect to the Bid Credit Apprentice Report, the region in which the bid credits were earned, the date in which those bid credits are deemed earned, and when the bid credits expire. The Department shall track all bid credits in the Illinois Works Credit Bank.

f)         For work performed by qualified apprentices prior to May 1, 2025, contractors and subcontractors shall submit a Bid Credit Apprentice Report by August 1, 2025.  For work performed by qualified apprentices on or after May 1, 2025, the Department will process bid credit requests for work performed no more than 90 calendar days prior to submittal of the Bid Credit Apprentice Report, absent extenuating circumstances.

g)         The Department shall publish on its website a registry of active Bid Credit Program contractors and subcontractors and the amount of available bid credits.

h)         Bid credits will expire 10 years after they are deposited into the contractor's Bid Credit account. Expired bid credits will be debited from the contractor's or subcontractor's account.

(Source:  Added at 49 Ill. Reg. 7298, effective May 7, 2025)