- PURPOSE: Makes major improvements to how the State conducts business with nonprofit service providers by cleaning up the Government Accountability and Transparency Act (GATA), State Finance Act, State Comptroller Act, Prompt Payment Act [PPA], and Court of Claims Act
- SUPPORTED BY: Forefront, Illinois Health and Human Services Coalition
- IMPACT: Codifies time frames to ensure state contractors receive grant agreements, contracts, payments, and communications in a timely manner to ensure the continuity of service delivery; Aims to improve workforce stability by ensuring grants/contracts don’t arbitrarily allocate costs; Streamlines the Court of Claims process for all parties
- EQUITY NOTE: Organizations with the smallest budgets and serving Communities of Color are the most likely to face challenges with the State’s contracting and payment systems per 2023 survey
Background:
Illinois’ contracting processes involve multiple state entities, including executive branch agencies (grant agreements and contracts), the State Comptroller and State Treasurer (payments), the Attorney General and Secretary of State (Court of Claims). Contractors may deal with all of these entities – often for multiple grants and contracts - and the process can be opaque and convoluted. When GATA was first passed 10 years ago, it was intended to standardize grant and contract processes across state government. In reality, multiple processes continue to proliferate across agencies, and there has not been a comprehensive update to related statutes since the original enactment of GATA. The Community Partner Fair Contracting Act will reduce confusion and create administrative efficiencies among both State agencies and contractors/grantees.
Additional Resources: