New Amendment to Illinois Joint Purchasing Act Gives Public Bodies More Flexibility with Cooperative Purchasing

The Governmental Joint Purchasing Act (the “Act”), which allows governmental units in Illinois to purchase personal property, supplies, or services jointly with one or more other governmental units in Illinois or elsewhere, was recently amended by Public Act 103-0865, and its new provisions become effective on January 1, 2025. The amendment eases compliance concerns and grants governmental units greater flexibility when relying on cooperative purchasing.

Prior to the amendment, Section 4 of the Act required all joint purchases to be made from contracts awarded to the lowest responsible bidder or highest-ranked offeror from competitive, sealed bids. However, national cooperative purchasing programs often used a variety of procurement methods that allowed for the award of contracts to bidders other than the lowest responsible bidder or highest-ranked offeror, as required by the Act. As a result, Illinois governmental units using such cooperative programs were at risk of noncompliance with the Act unless the governmental unit invested the time and resources needed to confirm the purchase was from a contract awarded to the lowest responsible bidder or highest-ranked offeror.

Public Act 103-0865, in part, amended Section 4 of the Act to address the problem where the cooperative does not identify the single “lowest responsible bidder or highest ranked offeror.” In the event the cooperative purchasing program awarded contracts based on qualifications alone (i.e., without ranking responsive bidders), then the amendment empowers governmental units under the Act to select a vendor through the cooperative purchasing program that “best meets the governmental unit’s needs.” 30 ILCS 525/4.

If the cooperative purchasing program does not have a ranking system for the particular purchase, then the Illinois participating governmental unit now has discretion to select the contractor for the job from vendors available through the cooperative purchasing program. The Act further states that the Illinois governmental unit must consider “the qualities of the articles or services supplied, their conformity with the specifications, their suitability to the requirements of the participating governmental units, and the delivery terms” when selecting a contractor.

The amendment to the Act gives Illinois governmental units more flexibility and eases compliance when making purchases through cooperative purchasing. Nonetheless, governmental units will still need to be mindful to confirm that the purchasing cooperative program meets the other procurement requirements of the Act, and also confirm that the resulting contracts include other applicable laws required for public projects (Prevailing Wage Act, Public Construction Bond Act, etc.) Please contact a Robbins Schwartz attorney if you have further questions about cooperative purchasing or compliance with the Governmental Joint Purchasing Act.