Emergency Final Costs Notice - Z14 Emergency Service

The State of Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT) issued an emergency procurement notice on April 8, 2026, with a response deadline of April 23, 2026, for final cost documentation related to emergency repairs to the state's z-14 Mainframe system. The procurement involved emergency services to address a critical hardware failure affecting the Hardware Management Console (HMC), specifically a "COMMUNICATIONS NOT ACTIVE" error preventing proper communication between the Support Element (SE) and the Central Processing Complex (CPC). The required services included assessment and repair work performed by senior-level IBM Mainframe technicians, with an estimated scope of approximately 62 hours of specialized technical labor. The contract term was established from July 1, 2024, through August 11, 2024, with an expected project initiation date of May 13, 2024. The primary objective was to restore disaster recovery capabilities at the state's main data center, which had been compromised by the hardware failure. Required qualifications included IBM certification and expertise in z-14 Mainframe systems hardware maintenance and repair, as the specialized nature of the equipment necessitated manufacturer-certified technicians.

The emergency procurement was conducted without typical set-aside designations due to the critical nature of the hardware failure and the manufacturer-specific requirements of the z-14 Mainframe system. While the State of Illinois documented efforts to include Business Enterprise Program-certified contractors in the procurement process, IBM was selected as the sole vendor due to the specialized equipment requirements and the unavailability of an existing state maintenance contract to address the urgent need. The final contract award to International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), headquartered in Armonk, New York, resulted in a total expenditure of $4,149.15 for supplies and services rendered during the emergency contract period, which was significantly lower than the initial estimated cost of $60,258. The final cost documentation was filed on April 7, 2026, by the Agency Procurement Officer for DoIT and submitted to both the Chief Procurement Office for General Services and the State Auditor General for compliance verification. This emergency procurement action, referenced as 24-448DOIT-INFO-B-43114, was funded through State Appropriated Funds.