(a) For purposes of this section, the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings:
"Bid contracts" means all city contracts let by a competitive bidding process as set forth in 65 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5/8-10-1.
"Bidder" means any person who submits a bid for a bid contract.
"Contract" means any agreement or transaction pursuant to which a contractor (i) receives city funds in consideration for services, work or goods provided or rendered, including contracts for legal or other professional services, or (ii) pays the city money in consideration for a license, grant or concession allowing it to conduct a business on city premises, and includes any contracts not awarded or processed by D.P.S.
"Contractor" means the person to whom a contract is awarded.
"Court-ordered child support arrearage" means that the Circuit Court of Cook County has issued an order declaring the respondent in arrearage on his or her child support obligations in a specific amount as of the date of that order or, upon the discretion of the commissioner, may mean that another Illinois court of competent jurisdiction has issued such an order.
"Potential contractor" means any person who is seeking to enter into a contract other than a bid contract.
"Substantial owner" means any person who owns or holds a ten percent or more percentage of interest in any bidder, potential contractor or contractor, as revealed by the disclosures required by the provisions of Chapter 2-154, including those shareholders, partners, beneficiaries and principals more specifically described therein; except that where the bidder, potential contractor or contractor is an individual or sole proprietorship.
"Child support withholding notice" means any income withholding notice which, pursuant to the applicable governing law, directs the payor (i) to withhold a dollar amount equal to the order of child support, and/or (ii) to withhold a dollar amount equal to or towards paying off any unpaid child support obligations, and/or (iii) to enroll a child as a beneficiary of a health insurance plan and withhold or cause to be withheld any required premiums, and also includes any order issued by the Circuit Court of Cook County (or, upon the discretion of the commissioner, another Illinois court of competent jurisdiction) which similarly directs the payor.
(b) Every bidder shall be required to submit an affidavit disclosing (1) any delinquencies by any of its substantial owners on a court-ordered child support arrearage and, (2) if any exist, whether the substantial owner has entered into a court-approved agreement for the payment of all child support owed and is in compliance with such agreement. In addition, every potential contractor shall submit such an affidavit prior to execution of any contract.
(c) With respect to bid contracts, where the affidavit shows that a substantial owner of a bidder is delinquent under (b)(1) and has not satisfied (b)(2), the chief procurement officer shall add eight percent to the bidder's bid price. This eight percent shall increase the bidder's bid price for the purpose of canvassing the bids in order to determine who is the lowest bidder. This eight percent penalty shall apply only for purposes of comparing bid amounts and shall not affect the amount of any contract payment. The provisions of this subsection shall only apply where not otherwise prohibited by federal, state or local law.
(d) In addition, where the chief procurement officer otherwise determines that a bidder, or a substantial owner thereof, is delinquent on a court- ordered child support arrearage, the foregoing eight percent penalty shall be applied; provided that such penalty shall not be applied if, where practicable, the chief procurement officer notifies the bidder of such determination and prior to the chief procurement officer's awarding of the contract, the bidder promptly provides the chief procurement officer with sufficient evidence of the following:
(1) as of the date the bid was submitted, the substantial owner had paid all child support then due under the court order, as evidenced by a certified court order or official clerk's records that no support was due and owing on that date; or
(2) as of the date the bid was submitted, the substantial owner has entered into a court-approved agreement for the payment of all child support owed and was in compliance with such agreement.
(e) Once a contract is awarded, every contractor must comply with all child support withholding notices that are served upon it. Failure to comply with such an order, after notice from the City of such noncompliance and a 30 day opportunity to cure, shall be an event of default. Compliance shall be evidenced by canceled checks paid to obligee or official clerk's records that payments were received on behalf of the obligee.
(f) The chief procurement officer is hereby authorized to do the following:
(1) investigate the child support payment records of any substantial owner to determine court- ordered child support arrearages;
(2) investigate all contractors' compliance with child support withholding notices;
(3) provide information on substantial owners and contractors to the appropriate Cook County and State of Illinois governmental entities, to the extent allowed by law; to assist those offices in enforcement of child support obligations;
(4) provide the names and business addresses of substantial owners and contractors to persons seeking to enforce court-ordered child support arrearages and child support withholding notices, and their legal representatives, to the extent allowed by law, on the condition that such information be used solely for the purpose of assisting in child support enforcement; provided that the names and identifying information of persons seeking to enforce child support orders shall be deemed confidential; and
(5) to promulgate regulations relating to the operation of this section.
(g) If the chief procurement officer determines that (i) a bidder, potential contractor or contractor, or a substantial owner thereof, has made a misrepresentation to D.P.S. regarding compliance with any child support order, or (ii) a contractor more than once has submitted affidavits showing a substantial owner's unpaid court- ordered child support arrearage, or (iii) a contractor on more than one occasion has failed to comply with child support withholding notices, after having received notice from the city of such noncompliance and a 30-day opportunity to cure, the chief procurement officer shall notify that bidder, potential contractor or contractor that it and the substantial owners thereof shall be barred from contracting on additional contracts for a period of three years. The bidder, potential contractor or contractor shall have the opportunity to seek reconsideration of such ineligibility by submitting to the chief procurement officer sufficient evidence that:
(1) the noncomplying substantial owner is no longer affiliated in any way with the contractor, bidder or potential contractor; or
(2) the formerly noncomplying substantial owner no longer has any outstanding child support arrearages, as evidenced by a certified court order or official clerk's records that no support is due and owing; provided that, where the ineligibility is based on a misrepresentation, such payment in full shall not be reason to suspend ineligibility unless the chief procurement officer also determines that such misrepresentation was inadvertent; or
(3) the substantial owner was not an obligor under a court-ordered child support arrearage at the time of the alleged misrepresentation.
(h) The chief procurement officer shall have the authority to suspend the ineligibility of a bidder, contractor or potential contractor for the reasons and using the procedures set forth in Section 2-92-320.
(i) Where a contract is entered into by an agent of the city other than the chief procurement officer, that agent is authorized to take and shall take the actions described above for the chief procurement officer in subsections (e) – (i) above.
(Added Coun. J. 2-7-96, p. 15393; Amend Coun. J. 7-29-98, p. 75051, § 5; Amend Coun. J. 7-19-00, p. 38206, § 1; Amend Coun. J. 9-4-02, p. 92670, § 3; Amend Coun. J. 11-8-12, p. 38872, § 13)