Open Illinois.org

Great news about HB 379 (Procurement Reverse Auction) - which passed into law on Tuesday, August 18th and amends the procurement code for Illinois government. Now, state and local government can hold online reverse auctions for contracts, similar to how you bid on eBay.

Bidding online will create more competition among government contractors and help government get the best price for it contracts (save money!). Online bidding also makes the procurement process more transparent and helps to eliminate pay-to-play, waste, and corruption.

A press release today from Connelly’s office says:

“The Governor signing House Bill 379 is a huge win for the residents and a giant first step in our fight for greater transparency and accountability in state government and to bring private sector cost saving measures to the government sector,” said State Representative Michael Connelly (R-Naperville). House Bill 379 which overwhelmingly passed both the House and Senate will also save taxpayers dollars by streamlining the state procurement process with an open, online reverse bidding process.

Currently, the Department of Central Management Services posts, collects and awards state contracts. House Bill 379 would authorize the Department of Central Management Services move its procurement process into the 21st century by authorizing the use of a widely used Internet process, the “online reverse auction”. Comparable to eBay, companies that sell goods and commodity services to the State would receive an anonymous identification number from the state and at set times would go online to compete for state contracts.

“This legislation was initiated by a constituent whose Fortune 1000 company utilizes this procurement method to drive down the costs of contracts,” said Rep. Connelly. “This is only the first of many reforms that Illinois needs to undergo to provide cost containing solutions in how it runs it’s affairs. In addition, I continue to meet with residents and small business leaders as we try to come up with additional ways the state can reform the ways it does business and save taxpayer dollars.”

Thanks to Rep. Mike Connelly for putting this idea forward.