December 6, 2023 - Small Business Presentation 2023
11/21/2023
The Chief Procurement Office will present its annual small business presentation on Wednesday, December 6, from 10:00am-11:00am (CST), via Webex. This small business presentation is being held by the Illinois Chief Procurement Office for Public Institutions of Higher Education to provide information to vendors and potential vendors about doing business with the nine public universities across 13 campuses and the Illinois Math and Science Academy. This virtual event is conducive to small, minority, and veteran-owned businesses, but anyone who is interested may attend. A recording of this Webinar will be available on our website.
You must register at https://illinois.webex.com/weblink/register/r60fa4133730283b12a93426094516b2f if you plan to attend. Prior to the event, a call-in number and video link will be provided to all registered persons via email.
If you have any questions, contact Catherine Bradbury at Catherine.Bradbury@illinois.gov.
Bulletin Redesign 2023
07/20/2023
We are happy to announce the launch of the newly redesigned Illinois Procurement Bulletin for Higher Education. This new version of the site was created with feedback from both vendors and university buyers in order to make it easier for vendors to find procurement opportunities and participate in the procurement process.
The new site will allow you to do everything the previous site did but easier, with some additional new features as well. Some key changes include:
- Guides for Vendors: A guide for using the bulletin as well as a new vendor guide for getting started doing business with Illinois public higher ed institutions are now available.
- Improved Account Management: Creating and managing your account is now easier and convenient. We've made it easier for you to update your account information, including linking your company's Illinois Procurement Gateway (IPG) number to your Bulletin account so you can participate in e-bidding. We've also added more advanced options for email notifications when new notices are posted to allow you to better filter for the notices that's most relevant to you.
- Advanced Search: In addition to being able to search by keyword or procurement number from the homepage or the search page, there is now an advanced search feature, which allows you to search based on additional criteria, including notice type, notice status, the buyer's institution, solicitation due date, or NIGP Codes.
- Improved NIGP Code Look up: We've made it easier to search or browse for relevant NIGP Codes in both the email notification settings and the advanced search form.
- Additional Resources for Vendors: We've collected additional resources for vendors, which you can conveniently find in the Vendor Resources section.
We want to express our gratitude to the current Bulletin users who provided us with feedback and helped us shape this redesign. Your input has been invaluable in helping us create the new and improved site.
March 5-15, 2021 - IDHR System Upgrade
03/03/2021
The Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR) is upgrading their online application/renewal system for the IDHR Public Contract/Eligibility Number. To accomplish the upgrade, IDHR will not process online and mailed Public Contract/Eligibility Number applications and renewals from 4PM March 5th to March 15th, 2021.
The Chief Procurement Office will not approve any IL Procurement Gateway (IPG) application where the vendor applied or renewed their IDHR Public Contract/Eligibility Number during this period because IPG staff will be unable to verify the number. Please plan your procurement and contracting activities accordingly. To learn more visit the IDHR system upgrade page.
Prohibition on Political Contributions
12/08/2017
With the approaching election season, the Chief Procurement Office would like to remind vendors of the prohibition on political contributions found in Section 50-37 of the Illinois Procurement Code (30 ILCS 500/50-37). We encourage every vendor to be familiar with this section of the Code and to seek legal advice as to how this section affects your company.
You can check the up to date listing of declared candidates on the Board of Elections website.
Please note, in most cases contributions to the Governor and Lieutenant Governor as well as all other declared candidates for those offices are prohibited. In addition, contributions made by entities and persons affiliated with your business are also prohibited. For more information about which entities and persons are considered "affiliated" with your business please see the Business Registration FAQ available on the State Board of Elections website.
If you are unsure whether the prohibition on political contributions applies to your business, please refer to the Illinois Procurement Code at Section 50-37 available on the General Assembly's website.
Finally, please note if a vendor is found to violate this prohibition, all contracts between State agencies and that vendor are voidable. If a vendor violates this prohibition 3 or more times within a 36-month period, then all contracts between State agencies and that vendor are void.
Illinois Procurement Gateway
05/06/2014
Vendors will soon be able to use the Illinois Procurement Gateway (IPG) to submit certain procurement-related information in advance of responding to solicitations. Registering in advance will save time, money and effort, and will reduce the risk of being disqualified for administrative errors.
Instead of submitting in paper form certain required information (such as company ownership, Department of Human Right's public contract number and State Board of Elections registration number), vendors will be able to submit the information electronically. Once we review and sign off, vendors will receive a registration number that can be included in solicitation responses in lieu of submitting various paper forms with each and every response.
The IPG is managed by the four independent Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs) who exercise procurement authority for the state agencies and the state universities. The CPOs selected B2Gnow to develop and host the cloud-based portal. There is no cost for vendors to register in the IPG.
