(605 ILCS 130/20)

Sec. 20. Procurement; request for proposals process.

(a) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the Department on behalf of the State shall select a contractor through a competitive request for proposals process governed by the Illinois Procurement Code and rules adopted under that Code and this Act.

(b) The competitive request for proposals process shall, at a minimum, solicit statements of qualification and proposals from offerors.

(c) The competitive request for proposals process shall, at a minimum, take into account the following criteria:

(1) The offeror's plans for the Illiana Expressway project;

(2) The offeror's current and past business practices;

(3) The offeror's poor or inadequate past performance in developing, financing, constructing, managing, or operating highways or other public assets;

(4) The offeror's ability to meet and past performance in meeting or exhausting good faith efforts to meet the utilization goals for business enterprises established in the Business Enterprise for Minorities, Women, and Persons with Disabilities Act;

(5) The offeror's ability to comply with and past performance in complying with Section 2-105 of the Illinois Human Rights Act; and

(6) The offeror's plans to comply with the Business Enterprise for Minorities, Women, and Persons with Disabilities Act and Section 2-105 of the Illinois Human Rights Act.

(d) The Department shall retain the services of an advisor or advisors with significant experience in the development, financing, construction, management, or operation of public assets to assist in the preparation of the request for proposals.

(e) The Department shall not include terms in the request for proposals that provide an advantage, whether directly or indirectly, to any contractor presently providing goods, services, or equipment to the Department.

(f) The Department shall select at least 2 offerors as finalists. The Department shall submit the offerors' statements of qualification and proposals to the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability and the Procurement Policy Board, which shall, within 30 days of the submission, complete a review of the statements of qualification and proposals and, jointly or separately, report on, at a minimum, the satisfaction of the criteria contained in the request for proposals, the qualifications of the offerors, and the value of the proposals to the State. The Department shall not select an offeror as the contractor for the Illiana Expressway project until it has received and considered the findings of the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability and the Procurement Policy Board as set forth in their respective reports.

(g) Before awarding a public private agreement to an offeror, the Department shall schedule and hold a public hearing or hearings on the proposed public private agreement and publish notice of the hearing or hearings at least 7 days before the hearing and in accordance with Section 4-219 of the Illinois Highway Code. The notice must include the following:

(1) the date, time, and place of the hearing and the address of the Department;

(2) the subject matter of the hearing;

(3) a description of the agreement that may be awarded; and

(4) the recommendation that has been made to select an offeror as the contractor for the Illiana Expressway project.

At the hearing, the Department shall allow the public to be heard on the subject of the hearing.

(h) After the procedures required in this Section have been completed, the Department shall make a determination as to whether the offeror should be designated as the contractor for the Illiana Expressway project and shall submit the decision to the Governor and to the Governor's Office of Management and Budget. After review of the Department's determination, the Governor may accept or reject the determination. If the Governor accepts the determination of the Department, the Governor shall designate the offeror for the Illiana Expressway project.

(Source: P.A. 100-391, eff. 8-25-17.)