Emergency Notice FY26 Weatherization Platform Support and Enhancements

The State of Illinois, through the Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity (DCEO), Office of Community Assistance, issued an emergency purchase notice on January 28, 2026, for FY26 Weatherization Platform Support and Enhancements with an April 28, 2026 due date. This is not a competitive solicitation but rather a direct award to NGI Capital Inc. dba Apex IT for critical enhancements, modifications, and support services to the IWix Weatherization system, which launched on July 1, 2024. The scope of work encompasses both enhancement and support services, including data table maintenance, IWix calculation updates, report modifications, metadata updates for new program requirements, mobile application functionality development, data cleanup and backup operations, Oracle quarterly updates and patches, instance migration, and system knowledge transfer to DCEO staff. Level 3 Application Administration and Support Tasks are also included, covering release management for Oracle compatibility, system upgrades and patches, Service Request management, and Oracle Product SR follow-up. The highest priority deliverable is migrating existing IWix pages to the new Oracle Redwood UI. The contract is scheduled to commence on January 30, 2026, and conclude on April 30, 2026.

No set-aside designations for disadvantaged enterprises, small businesses, minority-owned businesses, women-owned businesses, or veteran-owned businesses apply to this emergency procurement. Apex IT was selected as the sole vendor due to its unique qualification as the original creator and developer of the existing Weatherization system; the agency determined that any alternative vendor would require a six to eight-month learning curve, making it economically infeasible and contrary to the State's best interests given the system's recent launch and ongoing integration requirements. The Business Enterprise Program contractor inclusion was not pursued for the same reasons. No existing State contract was identified that could meet the specialized needs of this procurement. The estimated contract value for this emergency purchase is $527,531.00, funded entirely with Federal Funds.