Procurement information shall be a public record to the extent provided in the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, being 5 ILCS 140/1 et seq., and shall be available to the public as provided by the Freedom of Information Act.
If a bidder or proposer believes a bid, proposal, offer, specifications or protest submitted to the county contains either trade secrets or proprietary information a statement should be included in the submission that describes and supports their claim. The statement must specifically identify which part of the submission must be considered confidential and explain why.
Entire bid submissions or proposals may not be labeled confidential material. Trade secrets or proprietary information are exempt from inspection and copying under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, and the Act ultimately governs what information can be withheld from the public.
Bidders and proposers assume the risk that an administrative agency or a court may conclude that the information contained in their bids or proposals is not exempt from disclosure under the Act. The county can thus not guarantee that submissions will ultimately be free from disclosure, and the statement a bidder or proposer submits to the county should clearly articulate why nondisclosure should apply.
(1977 Code, § 1:4-1) (Ord., § 1-103, passed 12-8-2009; Ord. passed 2-12-2013; Ord. 21-0923, passed 10-12-2021)