RFP- Bond Underwriting Services

The Illinois Tollway is requesting proposals to establish a pool of qualified municipal bond senior underwriters under RFP 25-1089, with proposals due August 28, 2026 at 10:30 a.m. CT. A pre-proposal meeting was held August 4, 2026 via Microsoft Teams with 74 participants; written questions were due August 6, 2026. All submissions must be electronic per CPO Notice 2020.06.

Mandatory qualifications include MSRB broker-dealer registration, experience as senior underwriter on at least one $100 million or greater toll authority bond issuance since 2021, and experience as senior or co-senior underwriter on at least one $50 million or greater State of Illinois or related entity bond issuance since 2021. Offerors must agree to bill at a set rate not to exceed $2.00 per $1,000 of bond par amount issued and must execute Attachment B (Pricing Document); failure to agree renders the proposal non-responsive. A Business Enterprise Program utilization goal of 9% applies.

The Tollway projects total bond issuances of approximately $10.528 billion over the ten-year contract term spanning 2026 through 2035, with annual issuances ranging from roughly $1.3 billion to $1.933 billion. Underwriting takedown compensation is tiered by maturity, ranging from $1.25 per $1,000 par for one- to three-year maturities to $2.00 per $1,000 for eight-year-plus and ten-year-plus fixed-rate bonds. Selected firms will enter into ten-year initial contract terms with all contract expirations aligned to September 29, 2036. The Tollway intends to qualify multiple firms and distribute bond issuances through random but equitable distribution among qualified vendors, with opportunities for new firms to join the pool annually.

Evaluation criteria allocate 109 points to technical responsiveness, 22 points to commitment to diversity, and 26 points to pricing, for a total of 157 possible points. A minimum of 105 points is required for award consideration. References are worth a maximum of 9 points. Vendors must submit a BEP Utilization Plan, Commitment to Diversity Answer Sheet, Vendor Disclosure form, IPG Active Registered Vendor Disclosure, and Certificate of No Change. Questions and answers will be published in BidBuy no later than August 14, 2026.