SUP Award Letter~1.pdf

217.782.7500 Springfield | 312.814.7179 Chicago | www.illinois.gov/dceo

STATE USE CONTRACT REQUEST LETTER

Ron Wilson Date: February 26, 2024 Deputy Director CMS BOSS, State Use Program 555 W. Monroe, Suite 1200 Chicago, IL 6066

Agency Name: Commerce and Economic Opportunity Agency Contact: Eliane Minor

Contact Phone Number: 217.785-1151 Contact Email: Eliane.Minor@illinois.gov

Contracting Qualified Not-For-Profit Vendor: Tazewell County Resource Center (TCRC)

Requisition #: R-206057

Proposed Contract: (please complete information in the appropriate box)

New Renewal

Proposed Start Date: 07/01/2024 Renewal Start Date: ___________________ Proposed End Date:06/30/2029 Renewal End Date: ___________________ Proposed Initial Term Length: 5 years Renewal Term Price: _________________ Proposed Initial Term Price: $ 1,600,000.00 # Renewals Remaining:

Proposed Renewal Terms (# terms, length of term): N/A

This procurement is for: Supplies Services Facilities

Other (please describe) _________________________________________________

1.) Specific Description of the Services/Commodities to be provided under Contract, including quantity if relevant:

(i) Consumer Inquiry Fulfillment Services All of the Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity (DCEO) Illinois Office of Tourism’s (IOT’s) Tourism advertising, communications, and public relations programs direct individual consumers to Illinois travel information at enjoyillinois.com. The Vendor must fulfill requests for brochures and material requested from the website and reader response cards. Vendor is required to access the enjoyillinois.com daily for download of fulfillment requests.

The Vendor will print out the mailing labels, stuff the fulfillment envelopes with the requested tourism promotional materials, weigh and deliver them to the post office. IOT will provide the tourism promotional materials, envelopes, and stationery. The Vendor will provide labels, equipment, staff, warehouse space and other supplies necessary to complete the fulfillment process.

Vendor will utilize the third-class bulk rate for mailing of all tourism promotional materials unless directed by IOT to send by other methods. If a consumer requests that materials be sent overnight, then the consumer must provide an account number for an overnight delivery service.

IOT will not reimburse the Vendor for overnight delivery service unless directed by IOT. The Vendor will be responsible for establishing a proper U.S. Postal Bulk Rate permit number.

Materials are to be mailed at the first-class rate only if the U.S. Postal Bulk Rate minimum cannot be met within the required fulfillment time frame.

International fulfillment requests shall be conducted in the most reasonable manner, taking into consideration postage rates and urgency of the request. These requests will only be made by

IOT.

The Vendor must complete the fulfillment process for all standard fulfillment requests (Statewide, Chicago, etc., as designated by DCEO) within 48 hours of the receipt of the data unless the post office is closed for the weekend or holiday. If the U.S. Postal Bulk Rate minimum cannot be met, the Vendor must mail those pieces first class.

Although every attempt will be made to advise the Vendor of planned marketing activities and campaigns, not all volume peaks will be predictable or controlled. The Vendor must have the flexibility and capability to hire additional staff during peak times.

The Vendor is required to advance all costs incurred in the fulfillment process including postage.

Postage reimbursement, management and administrative fees will be reimbursed monthly by

DCEO.

(ii) Bulk Request. The Vendor will process and fulfill orders for bulk requests (cases) of materials to be shipped to domestic and international locations, as requested by DCEO. International mailings require customs paperwork for each piece sent.

(iii) Storage and Delivery. IOT’s tourism promotional materials for distribution and dissemination by the 7 Tourism Information Centers (TICs) at the Illinois locations are described below. The Vendor must provide a minimum of 25,000 square feet of warehouse and office space to support the storage and fulfillment operations to IOT’s Tourist Information Centers. Warehouse shall store state-approved promotional materials and provide for a minimum of twice-monthly delivery of those materials to the TICs and other Illinois tourism organizations as directed by DCEO from time to time as needed. The TIC vendor is required to notify the Vendor that additional promotional materials are needed at least two weeks in advance of depletion of the TIC inventory. Six of the TIC locations require the vendor to deliver the boxes of material an attic storage area. The boxes must be hand carried one at a time up a small set of stairs for stock rotation at these locations. All other TIC locations allow deliveries from 9am to 4pm Wednesday-Sunday. The average order size for a TIC delivery is over 20 boxes.

(iv) Inventory Management. The Vendor will provide IOT with verification of receipt of shipments of all IOT materials and producing a monthly and yearly inventory report for all IOT materials.

This report must reconcile reported versus actual counts with overage and shrinkage descriptions.

The Vendor will monitor inventory balances and will notify IOT of low inventory brochures at least two weeks in advance of exhausting the supply.

IOT produces over 800,000 pieces of tourism promotional materials each year. It is essential that an adequate inventory of tourism promotional materials be maintained at one Illinois warehouse so that materials are available for timely fulfillment, delivery, and distribution.

Vendor is required to submit the following reports:

Monthly Summary Report Monthly/Annual Inventory Report Monthly Bulk Rate Special Mail Report Monthly Tourist Information Center (TIC) Deliveries Report Monthly Call Center Files Received Report Monthly Bulk Class Postage Report Monthly First-Class Postage Report Monthly Bulk Usage Report Monthly Chicago Kits Report (to Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau) Monthly Web Files Received Report Various Reports Upon Request

2.) Location where Services/Commodities will be provided under the Contract. If the procurement is for Services or Facilities maintenance (e.g., janitorial), please describe your agency’s expectations of the vendor (e.g., frequency of services, tasks to be performed, square footage being cleaned, what consumables will be provided etc.):

Tazewell County Resource Center 21310 Illinois Route 9 Tremont, IL 61568

As well as delivery to the following 7 Tourist Information Centers:

Cumberland Road Tourist Information Center I-70 Rest Area-Westbound Route 3, P.O. Box 4 Marshall, IL 62441

Fort Massac Tourist Information Center 5402 Hwy 45 South Metropolis, IL 62960

Homestead Tourist Information Center I-55 Rest Area-Northbound Hamel, IL 62046

Rend Lake North Tourist Information Center 80N I-57 Northbound Whittington, IL 62897

Rend Lake South Tourist Information Center 78S I-57 Southbound Whittington, IL 62897

Salt Kettle Tourist Information Center I-74 Westbound Oakwood, IL 61858

Turtle Creek Tourist Information Center I-90 Rest Area-Southbound South Beloit, IL 61080.

3.) If your agency has utilized this vendor to perform the same or similar services in the past, please describe your agency’s satisfaction with the vendor’s past performance: Tazewell County Resource Center’s performance has been outstanding over the course of this contract.

They exceed all our requirements and are always willing to assist when needed.

4.) Provide the name/contact information of the procurement staff responsible for negotiating the proposed price, if different from the agency contact.

Same as Agency Contact

Explain the economic benefit of utilizing the State Use vendor. Also, for the Committee’s review required by 30 ILCS 500/45-35(c)(8), please demonstrate that you have done one or more of the following (and provide a detailed description of research completed) to show the contract price is not substantially more than if competitively bid (Attach additional pages as needed):

Performed recent market research for comparable supplies or services in the area where services will be provided. Whether research is recent will depend largely upon the supply or service being procured, as pricing may be more likely to change in certain areas over others.

Researched other nearby jurisdictions’ contracts for pricing of similar supplies/services (e.g., State of Missouri, State of Wisconsin, State of Indiana, State of Kentucky, State of Michigan, City of Chicago, etc.). Information on such Federal Government contracts may be found at abilityonecatalog.gov.

Examined the previous contract’s pricing (if competitively bid) and compared it to the new contract pricing, taking into account consumer price index data and prevailing wages for the area where services (as defined by Section 25-60[b] of the Illinois Procurement Code) are to be provided.

Note: $100,000.00 of reimbursable postage costs are incorporated into the first year of the proposed contract with a $5,000.00 increase each year.

TCRC had previously paid their workers (clients) a $2.51-piece rate (special minimum wage.

TCRC will now pay their clients the actual minimum wage throughout the life of this contract:

• July 1, 2024 – December 31, 2024 - $14.00 per hour for a maximum of $160,000.00

• January 1, 2025 – June 30, 2025 - $15.00 per hour for a maximum of $167,200.00 o $100,000.00 reimbursable postage costs for year 1

• July 1, 2025 –June 30, 2026 - $15.00 per hour for a maximum of $172,200.00 o $105,000.00 reimbursable postage costs for year 2

• July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027: $15.45 per hour for a maximum of $177,400.00 o $110,000.00 reimbursable postage costs for year 3

• July 1, 2027 – June 30, 2028: $15.91 per hour for a maximum of $182,800.00 o $1115,000.00 reimbursable postage costs for year 4

• July 1, 2028 – June 30, 2029: $16.39 per hour for a maximum of $188,284.00 o $120,000.00 reimbursable postage costs for year 5

Historically, TCRC utilized an average of 110-130 individuals working a total of 413.5 hours per quarter. Their total hours worked was 413. TCRC anticipates utilizing 130—145 unique clients for a similar number of hours during each quarter of the proposed contract. TCRC has raise their fee by 9.5 % is the first year of the contract, but by less than 1% in the subsequent 4 years.

These increase fall well short of the 9-12% annual increases to the minimum wage. The quote from TCRC not only includes payments to clients but also their cost for management staff and overheard costs related to the storage and distribution of the tourism brochure materials.

Subcontractor Utilized: Yes No

Description of Services/Commodities to be provided by Subcontractor:

N/A

Anticipated Price of Subcontractor Services Per Term: $N/A

Please ask the State Use Committee to review this file and advise if approval is granted to proceed with this procurement in accordance to 30 ILCS 500/45-35.

Eliane Minor

Agency Contact - DCEO

217. 785-1151 - Eliane.Minor@illinois.gov

CC: Rick Rogers, APO

CC: - Coordinator – State Use Program