Construction And Engineering
Construction Solicitation and Pre-Award
The Illinois Tollway’s construction solicitation and pre-award processes are structured to ensure transparency, competitiveness, and compliance with state procurement laws while advancing major infrastructure programs. During the solicitation phase, projects are publicly advertised in BidBuy and contractors access bid documents through the Tollway’s Online Plan Room. Pre-bid activities, such as Q&A sessions and addenda, clarify requirements before submission. In the pre-award phase, bids are evaluated for responsiveness and compliance, vendor qualifications are verified, and diversity and veteran participation goals are confirmed. All awards are contingent upon Illinois Tollway Board approval.
Bid Opening
Bid Opening Meeting Contract RR-25-2034 Systemwide Structural Rehabilitation
Friday, May 1, 2026 at 10:30 a.m. CST
The bid opening will be held through Microsoft Teams.
Registration is required.
Register for the Microsoft Teams meeting. Use the following information to access the meeting.
Audio conference call in: +1 323-486-3157, 677196296# United States, Chicago
Phone conference ID: 682 481 362#
Meeting number: 268 244 000 942 961
Password: cS7gH99b
Construction Bid Calendar
This is the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority 2026 Engineering Bid Calendar. Bid openings are scheduled on Tuesdays and Thursdays; Fridays may be considered if needed. Bid openings are not to be scheduled on Committee or Board Meeting dates, or during the week of IDOT bid lettings.
Tentative Board Key: Each color represents the tentative bid opening window for a given board meeting month. The colors and their corresponding board months are: February (peach), March (yellow), April (pink), May (light pink), June (light green), July (light yellow-green), August (cyan), September (orange), October (tan/gold), November (blue), December (lavender), and 2027 (light gray). Dates highlighted in these colors throughout the calendar indicate the tentative bid opening dates that would be presented at that month's board meeting.
Holidays: January 1, January 19, February 16, May 25, June 19, July 3, September 7, October 12, November 11, November 26, December 25.
Committee and Board Meeting dates: January 21, February 19, March 19, April 16, May 21, June 18, July 16, August 20, September 17, October 15, November 12, November 19, December 17.
IDOT Bid Letting dates: January 16, February 27, April 24, June 12, July 31, September 18, November 6.
Obtaining Copies of Plan Documents
Visit our Online Plan Room to view and/or purchase copies of plan documents from BHFX.
The Online Plan Room is the Tollway's mechanism for advertising and distributing construction contract documents and standard specifications to prospective Tollway bidders. The Online Plan Room also serves as the Tollway's construction contract document archive and provides for on-call printing services.
Registered users, contractors and vendors are able to view and/or purchase contract plan documents. First-time users can register at www.illinoistollwaybidding.com. Once registered, a permanent identification and password will provide access to the Online Plan Room.
If you encounter any difficulties viewing or purchasing contract plan documents, please contact BHFX at 630-393-0777. Contract plans are no longer available for purchase at the Illinois Tollway offices.
Job Order Contracting
Overview
The Job Order Contracting Program is a project delivery method that enables the Illinois Tollway to accomplish a high volume of facility repairs and individual construction projects with a single, competitively bid contract, eliminating the time and expense of the typical design-bid-construct cycle for each project.
General contractors competitively bid from catalog of construction tasks with pre-set unit prices based on the regional market. In most cases, the JOC general contractors rely on sub-contractors to perform tasks related to each project.
Handling more than 1,000 JOC job orders effectively over the past seven years, the JOC Program allows the Illinois Tollway to decrease project duration and cost, while increasing quality and maintaining a strong presence in the local construction community
Goals
- JOC provides an avenue for the Tollway to establish and pursue initiatives unique to the agency through BEP, Veteran, and Small Business Initiative participation.
- JOC creates opportunities for contractors to participate in Tollway projects through the prime contractors.
- JOC allows the Tollway to expand its network of firms and allows contactors to familiarize themselves with the Tollway for future opportunities.
All bids must be submitted via BidBuy, the State of Illinois eProcurement System.
https://www.bidbuy.illinois.gov/bso/
Refer to the ‘Bid Requirements’ section of the bid documents for a listing of all forms that need to be returned with the bid. All required forms are provided in the bid documents available in the Tollway’s Online Plan Room: https://www.illinoistollwaybidding.com/
The Online Plan Room is the Tollway's mechanism for advertising and distributing construction contract documents and standard specifications to prospective Tollway bidders. The Online Plan Room also serves as the Tollway's construction contract document archive and provides for on-call printing services.
Diversity and veteran requirements vary from contract to contract solicited. Refer to the DBE and VOSB Special Provisions contained within the bid documents for contract-specific D/M/WBE and/or VOSB participation goals and forms, respectively. For more information visit our Diversity page.
Most Tollway contracts require prospective bidders to be prequalified by IDOT in specialized categories.
Refer to the Prequalification page on IDOT’s website for more information.
https://idot.illinois.gov/doing-business/procurements/construction-services/prequalification.html
Optional pre-bid meetings will be held several weeks before bids are due. For specialized projects, project site visits may also be offered by the Tollway. Refer to the contract’s bid documents for a date, time, and virtual meeting link.
For all bid related questions, refer to the dedicated email address provided for each contract in the bid documents (e.g., ####D.####_Questions@docs.e-builder.net)