Central Communications System - Sole Source

The State of Illinois, through the Illinois Gaming Board (IGB), is seeking to award a sole source contract to Light & Wonder International, Inc. for a Central Communications System (CCS) that links all 45,000 video gaming terminals (VGTs) in over 8,400 licensed establishments across the state. The CCS is required by law to allow the IGB to audit and monitor the distributed video gaming market, which is the largest in the world. This sole source contract is necessary to bridge the gap between the expiration of the IGB's current competitively awarded CCS contract and the award of a new contract through an upcoming competitive solicitation, which could take 18-24 months. The 24-month contract has an estimated value of $30 million and will be funded through a percentage of net terminal income paid by video gaming licensees, which has increased from 0.8513% to 0.902% to account for necessary equipment upgrades. Light & Wonder is the only vendor capable of meeting the IGB's needs by the required start date of January 1, 2024, as transitioning to a new vendor would take 12-24 months and pose significant risk of disruption to the state's video gaming revenue, which exceeded $1.034 billion over the past 12 months.

This is a sole source procurement, as the IGB has determined that Light & Wonder is the only economically feasible source for the CCS. The public will have an opportunity to provide written comments or request a public hearing by November 10, 2023, after which the Chief Procurement Officer may approve the IGB's request to contract by the sole source method. There are no set-aside designations or restrictions on the types of organizations that can respond, as this is a sole source contract with the incumbent vendor, Light & Wonder, which has provided the CCS infrastructure since the inception of the video gaming industry in Illinois.