June 24, 2013

Mayor Emanuel Announces Unprecedented Level of Transparency for City Procurements

City Expanding Postings to Include Both Winning and Losing Bids Online for All Competitive Low Bid Contracts

Mayor's Press Office    312.744.3334

Today, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the progress of the first phase of unprecedented transparency by the Department of Procurement Services (DPS) in the procurement process. This month, DPS began posting all winning and losing bids submitted by vendors for competitive low bid contracts.  This includes all of the individual line items bid by each vendor.

“From my first day in office, my administration has implemented a series of ethics and transparency reforms designed to ensure that city government is honest and accountable to the taxpayers,” said Mayor Emanuel. “With these ongoing reforms, Chicago will be among the most transparent cities in the country when it comes to providing information about procurement, the bidding process, its contractors and subcontractors.”

DPS currently posts bid tabulations for all competitive, low bid projects, that show the names of the bidders and the total amount bid. Earlier this year, DPS began posting the list of a bidder’s proposed subcontractors along with the bid tabulation information, including M/WBE businesses. Additionally, DPS began sending contract award notification letters to the M/WBE subcontractors to alert them that the prime vendor committing to their utilization was the winner of the contract.

Future postings will include professional services (RFQ, RFP, and RFI’s) proposals, after the contracts are awarded.  Proposals would not be posted in advance of a contract award to maintain the integrity and confidentiality of the procurement process.  In order to maintain a level playing field, to the extent permitted by law, the information that DPS requires from the proposers will not be released or otherwise used to provide other proposers with a possible competitive advantage in the procurement. This allows maximum disclosure while protecting taxpayers, and allows the city to protect itself from cases of inflated bidding or other advantages that can be gained from knowledge of a competitor’s pricing.

The procurement reforms announced by Mayor Emanuel today are the latest in a series of procurement reforms aimed at streamlining the bidding process and increasing transparency. For additional procurement reforms, visit the DPS website, www.cityofchicago.org/procurement

 

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