Public Participation Plan

The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) is soliciting transportation and outreach consulting services through a Request for Proposal (RFP B-50588) with a posted date of December 30, 2025, and a bid due date of February 4, 2026. The procuring agencies are IDOT's Office of Communications and Office of Planning and Programming. The scope of work encompasses comprehensive consulting services to review and enhance public participation procedures, research peer agency best practices, facilitate stakeholder engagement, and develop a statewide public outreach policy guide for planning and programming deliverables including the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program, Multi-Year Program, Annual Highway Improvement Program, Long Range Transportation Plan, and various modal plans. Key deliverables include a Data Collection and Analysis Summary, Working Group Facilitation activities, a Draft Public Outreach Policy Guide due twelve months after contract execution, a Final Policy Guide due eighteen months after execution, and Policy Guide Training execution during the final six months. Vendor must demonstrate at least five years of public outreach and community engagement experience with State DOTs, metropolitan planning organizations, or other transportation agencies, and submit at least three samples demonstrating relevant experience within the last three years. The contract requires demonstrated experience with at least three large transportation agencies other than IDOT, detailed stakeholder engagement approaches with compensation plans for community participants, considerations for disadvantaged community identification and targeting, and complete resumes with organizational charts for all assigned personnel including subcontractors. Evaluation criteria allocate 750 points for technical requirements (300 points for Capability and Experience, 300 points for Technical Ability and Methodology, and 150 points for Resources), 150 points for Commitment to Diversity, and 200 points for pricing, totaling 1,100 maximum available points, with a minimum of 650 combined points in Technical and Commitment to Diversity categories required for price evaluation. Vendor questions must be submitted no later than ten days before the bid opening date to Deidre.Evans@illinois.gov and Omolara.Erewele@illinois.gov.

This solicitation includes a Business Enterprise Program (BEP) goal of nine percent (9%) for businesses owned by minorities, women, and persons with disabilities, requiring vendors to be certified in NIGP codes 918-24 (Communications Consulting) or 918-26 (Public Relations Consulting) to meet the diversity goal through self-performance or identified certified subcontractors. There is no Veterans Small Business Program (VBP) goal associated with this procurement. Compensation is structured as estimated pricing based on fully-loaded hourly rates for five labor categories (Principal, Project Manager, Planner, Technician/Designer, and Administrative Assistant) totaling 4,640 annual hours, with fully-loaded rates encompassing salary, benefits, insurance, overhead, travel, equipment, and training materials; no additional expenses or taxes are permitted unless accompanied by proof of tax exemption. The initial contract term is twenty-four months from execution with one optional renewal period of twelve months available, not to exceed ten years total. The contract may be partially or wholly funded with federal funds, with the funding percentage and dollar amount to be disclosed upon notice of intent to award. All submissions must be electronic through BidBuy and must include mandatory documentation including Vendor Disclosure or IPG Active Registered Vendor Disclosure, Technical Response, Offer to the State of Illinois with Subcontractor Disclosure, Commitment to Diversity documentation, Pricing, and BEP and VBP Utilization Plans.