(30 ILCS 500/35-30)
    Sec. 35-30. Awards.
    (a) All State contracts for professional and artistic services, except as provided in this Section, shall be awarded using the competitive request for proposal process outlined in this Section. The scoring for requests for proposals shall include the commitment to diversity factors and methodology described in subsection (e-5) of Section 20-15.
    (b) For each contract offered, the chief procurement officer, State purchasing officer, or his or her designee shall use the appropriate standard solicitation forms available from the chief procurement officer for matters other than construction or the higher education chief procurement officer.
    (c) Prepared forms shall be submitted to the chief procurement officer for matters other than construction or the higher education chief procurement officer, whichever is appropriate, for publication in its Illinois Procurement Bulletin and circulation to the chief procurement officer for matters other than construction or the higher education chief procurement officer's list of prequalified vendors. Notice of the offer or request for proposal shall appear at least 14 calendar days before the response to the offer is due.
    (d) All interested respondents shall return their responses to the chief procurement officer for matters other than construction or the higher education chief procurement officer, whichever is appropriate, which shall open and record them. The chief procurement officer for matters other than construction or higher education chief procurement officer then shall forward the responses, together with any information it has available about the qualifications and other State work of the respondents.
    (e) After evaluation, ranking, and selection, the responsible chief procurement officer, State purchasing officer, or his or her designee shall notify the chief procurement officer for matters other than construction or the higher education chief procurement officer, whichever is appropriate, of the successful respondent and shall forward a copy of the signed contract for the chief procurement officer for matters other than construction or higher education chief procurement officer's file. The chief procurement officer for matters other than construction or higher education chief procurement officer shall publish the names of the responsible procurement decision-maker, the agency letting the contract, the successful respondent, a contract reference, and value of the let contract in the next appropriate volume of the Illinois Procurement Bulletin.
    (f) For all professional and artistic contracts with annualized value that exceeds $100,000, evaluation and ranking by price are required. Any chief procurement officer or State purchasing officer, but not their designees, may select a respondent other than the lowest respondent by price. In any case, when the contract exceeds the $100,000 threshold and the lowest respondent is not selected, the chief procurement officer or the State purchasing officer shall forward together with the contract notice of who the low respondent by price was and a written decision as to why another was selected to the chief procurement officer for matters other than construction or the higher education chief procurement officer, whichever is appropriate. The chief procurement officer for matters other than construction or higher education chief procurement officer shall publish as provided in subsection (e) of Section 35-30, but shall include notice of the chief procurement officer's or State purchasing officer's written decision.
    (g) The chief procurement officer for matters other than construction and higher education chief procurement officer may each refine, but not contradict, this Section by promulgating rules for submission to the Procurement Policy Board and the Commission on Equity and Inclusion and then to the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. Any refinement shall be based on the principles and procedures of the federal Architect-Engineer Selection Law, Public Law 92-582 Brooks Act, and the Architectural, Engineering, and Land Surveying Qualifications Based Selection Act; except that pricing shall be an integral part of the selection process.
(Source: P.A. 101-657, Article 5, Section 5-5, eff. 7-1-21 (See Section 25 of P.A. 102-29 for effective date of P.A. 101-657, Article 5, Section 5-5); 101-657, Article 40, Section 40-125, eff. 1-1-22; 102-687, eff. 12-17-21.)