2025 Purchasing & Construction Virtual Conference

Register Now for Our Annual Purchasing & Construction Virtual Conference on February 25, 2025.

Location: Zoom

Topics and Descriptions are Below:

Making Purchasing and Procurement Easier: Essential Bidding Strategies and Leveraging the Recent Amendment to the Governmental Joint Purchasing Act

8:30 a.m. – 9:15 a.m.

This presentation will focus on purchasing and procurement requirements for Illinois local governments—from school districts and community colleges to park districts and municipalities. Our attorneys will walk through compliance requirements and strategies for purchasing and procurement through common exemptions and newly enacted amendments to the Illinois Governmental Joint Purchasing Act that provide public bodies with greater flexibility when relying on cooperative purchases through other government agencies.

Mitigate Risks: Best Practices for Effective Risk Management and Insurance Strategies for Public Contracts and Construction

9:15 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

Join Robbins Schwartz construction and transactional attorneys to discuss the importance of mitigating risk and properly insuring public entities in connection with common transactions including construction projects, facility use agreements, leases, and software purchases involving personally protected information. The presentation will address various types of insurance for applicable transactions, contract terms that protect public bodies, and the Tort Immunity Act that public entities can rely on to mitigate risk.

Construction Pitfalls: Key Considerations for Public Bodies to Avoid Problems on a Construction Project

10:15 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

Public construction is complex. The parties involved often have overlapping responsibilities, tasks, schedules and liabilities. Moreover, the risks can be just as complex, ranging from unknown conditions at the project site and weather to supply chain issues and pandemics. In this presentation, Robbins Schwartz’s construction lawyers will discuss common construction project problems and how to avoid them.

Read (or Write) the Fine Print! Negotiating Contracts for Public Entities

11:00 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.

Every transaction comes with terms and conditions. Those terms and conditions are agreed upon by the parties to a transaction but not always reduced to writing or properly reviewed. From complex construction contracts and real estate agreements, to purchase orders and website privacy policies, public bodies need to be aware of contract terms that could significantly impact its ability to benefit from any bargain. This presentation will identify key terms to consider, as well as strategies to negotiating the same.