State of Illinois

Ninety-Fifth General Assembly

House of Representatives

HOUSE RESOLUTION No. 862

    WHEREAS, The Standard Procurement Rules promulgated to

implement the authority granted by the Illinois Procurement

Code provide that the policy of this State is to ensure that

all State procurements shall be accomplished in the most

economical, expeditious, and commercially reasonable manner,

uniformly and consistently among and within State agencies, so

as to facilitate participation in State procurements,

encourage competition, and ensure that procurements are

conducted in a fair and open manner; and
 

    WHEREAS, The Illinois Department of Revenue issued a

request for proposals (RFP) from responsible vendors to meet

the State's long-term needs of a statewide 10-year Beverage

Vending and Pouring Program Contract to be awarded to a single

vendor; and
 

    WHEREAS, Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Chicago, a

Coca-Cola Enterprises company, and PepsiAmericas, Inc., bid on

the FY 07 Beverage RFP #22011731; and
 

    WHEREAS, Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Chicago submitted

questions and asked for clarification concerning the RFP to

State personnel serving with respect to the procurement

activity and was advised by that State personnel that the State

sent Coca-Cola a template with mistakes that the State would

correct and re-send to Coca-Cola for re-submission, that the

State would send a revised redraft of the proposed contract and

service level agreement to Coca-Cola, that the State would send

further volume data information that would help quantify the

contract opportunity, and that the State would contact

Coca-Cola at a later time and ask for Coca-Cola's best and

final pricing; and
 

    WHEREAS, The Chief Procurement Officer and State personnel

serving with respect to the procurement activity failed to

provide Coca-Cola with the documents and information offered,

and did not ask Coca-Cola for its best and final pricing before

awarding the contract to PepsiAmericas without comparative

evaluation between vendors in the spirit of true competitive

bidding; and
 

    WHEREAS, Based on current complaints, it appears that the

Chief Procurement Officer's activities were not in accordance

with the Standard Procurement Rules of the Illinois Procurement

Code or good procurement practices and that the contract is

otherwise not in the State's best interest; therefore, be it
 

    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE

NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that

the Auditor General is directed to conduct an audit of the

procurement practices in connection with the State's

multi-year beverage vending and pouring contract awarded to

PepsiAmericas, Inc., to determine whether good procurement

practices were exercised in accordance with applicable State

laws and rules; and be it further
 

    RESOLVED, That the Auditor General is specifically

authorized to review, determine, and publicly report on whether

the Chief Procurement Officer's activities and decisions in

connection with this procurement were in the State's best

interest; and be it further
 

    RESOLVED, That the Auditor General commence this audit as

soon as possible and report his findings and recommendations

upon completion in accordance with the provisions of the

Illinois State Auditing Act; and be it further
 

    RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be delivered to

the Auditor General.

Adopted by the House of Representatives on March 6, 2008.