HB3053 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB103 29729 AWJ 56135 b

103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2023 and 2024
HB3053

Introduced 2/17/2023___________, by

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

55 ILCS 5/5-1022	from Ch. 34, par. 5-1022
55 ILCS 5/5-45015
55 ILCS 5/5-45025
55 ILCS 5/5-45045

Amends the Counties Code. Provides that a county may establish goals, based upon a legally defensible disparity study, for the procurement of goods and services to promote and encourage the continuing economic development of: (1) minority-owned and minority-operated businesses; (2) women-owned and women-operated businesses; (3) businesses owned and operated by persons with disabilities; and (4) businesses owned and operated by veterans of the armed forces of the United States. In the County Design-Build Authorization Division of the Code, provides that, rather than evaluating design-build proposals to see if they comply with the utilization goals for business enterprises established in the Business Enterprise for Minorities, Women, and Persons with Disabilities Act and provisions of the Illinois Human Rights Act, design-build proposals may be evaluated to determine if the proposals meet the county's contracting goals for the county's program for disadvantaged business enterprises based on the county's most recent, legally defensible disparity study.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning local government.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Counties Code is amended by changing Sections 5-1022, 5-45015, 5-45025, and 5-45045 as follows:

(55 ILCS 5/5-1022) (from Ch. 34, par. 5-1022)

Sec. 5-1022. Competitive bids.

(a) Any purchase by a county with fewer than 2,000,000 inhabitants of services, materials, equipment or supplies in excess of $30,000, other than professional services, shall be contracted for in one of the following ways:

(1) by a contract let to the lowest responsible bidder after advertising for bids in a newspaper published within the county or, if no newspaper is published within the county, then a newspaper having general circulation within the county; or

(2) by a contract let without advertising for bids in the case of an emergency if authorized by the county board.

(b) In determining the lowest responsible bidder, the county board shall take into consideration the qualities of the articles supplied; their conformity with the specifications; their suitability to the requirements of the county, availability of support services; uniqueness of the service, materials, equipment, or supplies as it applies to networked, integrated computer systems; compatibility to existing equipment; and the delivery terms. The county board also may take into consideration whether a bidder is a private enterprise or a State-controlled enterprise and, notwithstanding any other provision of this Section or a lower bid by a State-controlled enterprise, may let a contract to the lowest responsible bidder that is a private enterprise.

(c) This Section does not apply to contracts by a county with the federal government or to purchases of used equipment, purchases at auction or similar transactions which by their very nature are not suitable to competitive bids, pursuant to an ordinance adopted by the county board.

(d) Notwithstanding the provisions of this Section, a county may let without advertising for bids in the case of purchases and contracts, when individual orders do not exceed $35,000, for the use, purchase, delivery, movement, or installation of data processing equipment, software, or services and telecommunications and inter-connect equipment, software, and services.

(e) A county may require, as a condition of any contract for goods and services, that persons awarded a contract with the county and all affiliates of the person collect and remit Illinois Use Tax on all sales of tangible personal property into the State of Illinois in accordance with the provisions of the Illinois Use Tax Act regardless of whether the person or affiliate is a "retailer maintaining a place of business within this State" as defined in Section 2 of the Use Tax Act. For purposes of this subsection (e), the term "affiliate" means any entity that (1) directly, indirectly, or constructively controls another entity, (2) is directly, indirectly, or constructively controlled by another entity, or (3) is subject to the control of a common entity. For purposes of this subsection (e), an entity controls another entity if it owns, directly or individually, more than 10% of the voting securities of that entity. As used in this subsection (e), the term "voting security" means a security that (1) confers upon the holder the right to vote for the election of members of the board of directors or similar governing body of the business or (2) is convertible into, or entitles the holder to receive upon its exercise, a security that confers such a right to vote. A general partnership interest is a voting security.

(f) Bids submitted to, and contracts executed by, the county may require a certification by the bidder or contractor that the bidder or contractor is not barred from bidding for or entering into a contract under this Section and that the bidder or contractor acknowledges that the county may declare the contract void if the certification completed pursuant to this subsection (f) is false.

(g) A county may establish goals, based upon a legally defensible disparity study, for the procurement of goods and services to promote and encourage the continuing economic development of:

(1) minority-owned and minority-operated businesses;

(2) women-owned and women-operated businesses;

(3) businesses owned and operated by persons with disabilities; and

(4) businesses owned and operated by veterans of the armed forces of the United States.

(Source: P.A. 95-331, eff. 8-21-07; 96-170, eff. 1-1-10.)

(55 ILCS 5/5-45015)

Sec. 5-45015. Solicitation of proposals.

(a) A county may enter into design-build contracts. In addition to the requirements set forth in its local ordinances, when the county elects to use the design-build delivery method, it must issue a notice of intent to receive proposals for the project at least 14 days before issuing the request for the proposal. The county must publish the advance notice in the manner prescribed by ordinance, which shall include posting the advance notice online on its website. The county may publish the notice in construction industry publications or post the notice on construction industry websites. A brief description of the proposed procurement must be included in the notice. The county must provide a copy of the request for proposal to any party requesting a copy.

(b) The request for proposal shall be prepared for each project and must contain, without limitation, the following information:

(1) The name of the county.

(2) A preliminary schedule for the completion of the contract.

(3) The proposed budget for the project, the source of funds, and the currently available funds at the time the request for proposal is submitted.

(4) Prequalification criteria for design-build entities wishing to submit proposals. The county shall include, at a minimum, its normal qualifications, licensing, registration, and other requirements; however, nothing precludes the use of additional prequalification criteria by the county.

(5) Material requirements of the contract, including, but not limited to, the proposed terms and conditions, required performance and payment bonds, insurance, and the entity's plan to comply with the county's contracting goals for the county's program for disadvantaged business enterprises based on the county's most recent, legally defensible disparity study or to comply with the utilization goals for business enterprises established in the Business Enterprise for Minorities, Women, and Persons with Disabilities Act and with Section 2-105 of the Illinois Human Rights Act.

(6) The performance criteria.

(7) The evaluation criteria for each phase of the solicitation. Price may not be used as a factor in the evaluation of Phase I proposals.

(8) The number of entities that will be considered for the technical and cost evaluation phase.

(c) The county may include any other relevant information that it chooses to supply. The design-build entity shall be entitled to rely upon the accuracy of this documentation in the development of its proposal.

(d) The date that proposals are due must be at least 21 calendar days after the date of the issuance of the request for proposal. If the cost of the project is estimated to exceed $12,000,000, then the proposal due date must be at least 28 calendar days after the date of the issuance of the request for proposal. The county shall include in the request for proposal a minimum of 30 days to develop the Phase II submissions after the selection of entities from the Phase I evaluation is completed.

(Source: P.A. 102-954, eff. 1-1-23.)

(55 ILCS 5/5-45025)

Sec. 5-45025. Procedures for Selection.

(a) The county must use a two-phase procedure for the selection of the successful design-build entity. Phase I of the procedure will evaluate and shortlist the design-build entities based on qualifications, and Phase II will evaluate the technical and cost proposals.

(b) The county shall include in the request for proposal the evaluating factors to be used in Phase I. These factors are in addition to any prequalification requirements of design-build entities that the county has set forth. Each request for proposal shall establish the relative importance assigned to each evaluation factor and subfactor, including any weighting of criteria to be employed by the county. The county must maintain a record of the evaluation scoring to be disclosed in event of a protest regarding the solicitation.

The county shall include the following criteria in every Phase I evaluation of design-build entities: (i) experience of personnel; (ii) successful experience with similar project types; (iii) financial capability; (iv) timeliness of past performance; (v) experience with similarly sized projects; (vi) successful reference checks of the firm; (vii) commitment to assign personnel for the duration of the project and qualifications of the entity's consultants; and (viii) ability or past performance in meeting or exhausting good faith efforts to meet the county's contracting goals for the county's program for disadvantaged business enterprises based on the county's most recent, legally defensible disparity study or to the utilization goals for business enterprises established in the Business Enterprise for Minorities, Women, and Persons with Disabilities Act and with Section 2-105 of the Illinois Human Rights Act. The county may include any additional relevant criteria in Phase I that it deems necessary for a proper qualification review.

The county may not consider any design-build entity for evaluation or award if the entity has any pecuniary interest in the project or has other relationships or circumstances, including, but not limited to, long-term leasehold, mutual performance, or development contracts with the county, that may give the design-build entity a financial or tangible advantage over other design-build entities in the preparation, evaluation, or performance of the design-build contract or that create the appearance of impropriety. No proposal shall be considered that does not include an entity's plan to comply with the county's contracting goals for the county's program for disadvantaged business enterprises based on the county's most recent, legally defensible disparity study or to comply with the requirements established in the Business Enterprise for Minorities, Women, and Persons with Disabilities Act, for both the design and construction areas of performance, and with Section 2-105 of the Illinois Human Rights Act.

Upon completion of the qualifications evaluation, the county shall create a shortlist of the most highly qualified design-build entities. The county, in its discretion, is not required to shortlist the maximum number of entities as identified for Phase II evaluation, provided that no less than 2 design-build entities nor more than 6 are selected to submit Phase II proposals.

The county shall notify the entities selected for the shortlist in writing. This notification shall commence the period for the preparation of the Phase II technical and cost evaluations. The county must allow sufficient time for the shortlist entities to prepare their Phase II submittals considering the scope and detail requested by the county.

(c) The county shall include in the request for proposal the evaluating factors to be used in the technical and cost submission components of Phase II. Each request for proposal shall establish, for both the technical and cost submission components of Phase II, the relative importance assigned to each evaluation factor and subfactor, including any weighting of criteria to be employed by the county. The county must maintain a record of the evaluation scoring to be disclosed in event of a protest regarding the solicitation.

The county shall include the following criteria in every Phase II technical evaluation of design-build entities: (i) compliance with objectives of the project; (ii) compliance of proposed services to the request for proposal requirements; (iii) quality of products or materials proposed; (iv) quality of design parameters; (v) design concepts; (vi) innovation in meeting the scope and performance criteria; and (vii) constructability of the proposed project. The county may include any additional relevant technical evaluation factors it deems necessary for proper selection.

The county shall include the following criteria in every Phase II cost evaluation: the total project cost, the construction costs, and the time of completion. The county may include any additional relevant technical evaluation factors it deems necessary for proper selection. The total project cost criteria weighting weighing factor shall not exceed 30%.

The county shall directly employ or retain a licensed design professional or a public art designer to evaluate the technical and cost submissions to determine if the technical submissions are in accordance with generally accepted industry standards. Upon completion of the technical submissions and cost submissions evaluation, the county may award the design-build contract to the highest overall ranked entity.

(Source: P.A. 102-954, eff. 1-1-23; revised 12-16-22.)

(55 ILCS 5/5-45045)

Sec. 5-45045. Reports and evaluation. At the end of every 6-month period following the contract award, and again prior to final contract payout and closure, a selected design-build entity shall detail, in a written report submitted to the county, its efforts and success in implementing the entity's plan to comply with the county's contracting goals for the county's program for disadvantaged business enterprises based on the county's most recent, legally defensible disparity study or to comply with the utilization goals for business enterprises established in the Business Enterprise for Minorities, Women, and Persons with Disabilities Act and the provisions of Section 2-105 of the Illinois Human Rights Act.

(Source: P.A. 102-954, eff. 1-1-23.)