HR1579 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1579 LRB095 22630 RLJ 53037 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The Governmental Joint Purchasing Act authorizes governmental units to purchase personal property, supplies, and services jointly with one or more other governmental units through a competitive bid process; and

WHEREAS, The Governmental Joint Purchasing Act provides that when the State of Illinois is a party to the joint purchase agreement, the Illinois Department of Central Management Services ("CMS") shall conduct the letting of bids; and

WHEREAS, On June 20, 2008, CMS issued Solicitation No. 222600 (the "Original Solicitation") requesting bids for bulk rock salt to be used for ice control by the Department of Transportation, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, other State agencies, and over 700 units of local government in 98 counties statewide (the "pool participants"); and

WHEREAS, Responses to the Original Solicitation were due on July 16, 2008; responses were submitted by four vendors, but none of the responses received by CMS for the Original Solicitation contained bids for the salt requirements for the majority of the pool participants located in Cook County, or for any of the pool participants located in Lake or McHenry County; and

WHEREAS, On July 25, 2008, CMS issued Solicitation No. 223231, a Supplemental Re-bid seeking bids for the salt requirements of the pool participants in Cook, Lake, and McHenry County (the "Re-bid"); and

WHEREAS, Responses to the Re-bid were due on August 12, 2008; responses to the Re-bid were submitted by three vendors, but all of the vendors responded to the Original Solicitation and limited their bids to the pool participants in Cook County; and

WHEREAS, On August 19, 2008, CMS advised the pool participants in Lake and McHenry County that, if they wished CMS to continue efforts to procure salt for them, they would have to commit to a price per ton in the range of $145 to $165; and

WHEREAS, On August 21, 2008, CMS awarded contracts in a total amount of $182,293,805.48 to the four vendors that responded to the Original Solicitation, notwithstanding the vendors' failure to submit bids for the salt requirements of the pool participants in Cook, Lake, and McHenry County; and

WHEREAS, On August 28, 2008, certain pool participants in Lake and McHenry County submitted a bid protest, claiming, pursuant to the Governmental Joint Purchasing Act and the Illinois Procurement Code, and the rules promulgated thereunder that: (1) the proposals submitted in response to the Original Solicitation were materially incomplete due to their failure to provide bids for the salt requirements of all governmental units participating in the joint procurement; (2) CMS should have rejected the bids as non-responsive; and (3) CMS should conduct an investigation into the bidding activities of the responding vendors to ensure that the vendors complied with all applicable State laws; and

WHEREAS, On August 29, 2008, CMS awarded $19,564,788.68 in contracts to two of the three vendors responding to the Re-bid, notwithstanding their failure to submit a bid for the salt requirements of the pool participants in Lake and McHenry County in either the Original Solicitation or the Re-Bid; and

WHEREAS, On September 4, 2008, CMS issued a no-bid, emergency purchase award in the amount of $8,597,382.32 to one of the vendors that had received an award under the Original Solicitation and submitted a response to the Re-bid, but had not submitted a price for pool participants in Lake or McHenry County in either solicitation; and

WHEREAS, Information in the press indicates that certain local governments not participating in the joint procurement, but located in geographic proximately to certain pool participants, were able to obtain bulk rock salt at more competitive prices than the pool participants; and

WHEREAS, Because a sealed bid process was used by CMS, bid documents are not accessible, and CMS has not provided information that would explain the price fluctuations for rock salt within and outside of the joint purchasing pool; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that the Auditor General is directed pursuant to Section 3-2 of the Illinois State Auditing Act to conduct an audit of CMS' decisions relating to the joint purchasing procurements of bulk rock salt to determine whether good procurement practices were exercised in accordance with applicable State laws and rules; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Auditor General is authorized pursuant to Section 3-2 of the Illinois State Auditing Act to review, determine, and publicly report on whether CMS' activities and decisions in connection with the joint procurement of rock salt were in the best interests of the State and participating units of local government; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Auditor General commence this audit as soon as possible and report his findings and recommendations upon completion in accordance with the Illinois State Auditing Act; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be delivered to the Auditor General, the Governor, and the Director of Central Management Services.