2026 IT Consulting Services

CONTRACT DOCUMENTS

AND PROJECT SPECIFICATIONS

FOR

Information Technology Consulting Services

ADVERTISEMENT REQUESTING PROPOSALS

The Village of Pingree Grove (Village/Owner) is seeking qualified proposals from applicants for Information Technology (IT) Consulting Services, as outlined within this document. All requirements are enclosed within.

Proposals to be submitted in duplicate, in a sealed envelope with the words “IT Consulting Services” clearly marked on it, will be received by the Village of Pingree Grove, Illinois until 10:00 a.m. on Friday, February 27, 2026 at the Municipal Center located at 555 Reinking Road, Pingree Grove, IL 60140; Immediately following, they will be publicly opened and read aloud in the Village’s Board Room. To attend the public opening, please use the public entrance at the north-east corner of the Municipal Center.

The proposed project consists of providing IT Consultant Services to Village staff and elected officials, including but not limited to, hardware and software installation, cybersecurity processes, network architecture, and support.

Instructions and specifications are available on the Village of Pingree Grove’s website. https://www.villageofpingreegrove.org/bids.aspx

The Village of Pingree Grove, Illinois reserves the right to reject any or all proposals and waive technicalities. Submissions may withdraw their proposal if a request is presented.

INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDERS

The successful Bidder shall submit a copy of their insurance policy listing the Village of Pingree Grove as an additional insured.

If any Bidder is in doubt as to the meaning of any part of the specifications or other contract documents, they may submit to the Assistant to the Village Manager or their designee(s), a written request for an interpretation. The Assistant to the Village Manager or their designee(s), will give an interpretation of the matter in question by issuing an "Addenda". The Assistant to the Village Manager, or their designee(s), will not respond to written requests for interpretation that are received less than 5 business days before the bid opening.

Bids, which are not signed by individuals making them, should have attached thereto a power of attorney evidencing authority to sign the bid on behalf of the person for whom it is signed.

Bids which are signed for a partnership should be signed by all of the partners or by an attorney in-fact. If signed by an attorney-in-fact, there should be attached to the bid a power of attorney evidencing authority to sign the bid, executed by the partners.

Bids which are signed for a corporation should give the correct corporate name thereof and the signature of the president or other authorized officer of the corporation manually written below the corporate name, following the word "By________________". If such a bid is manually signed by an official other than the president of the corporation, a certified copy of a resolution of the board of directors evidencing the authority of such official to sign the bid should be attached to it. Such a bid should also bear the attesting signature of the secretary of the corporation and the impression of the corporate seal.

Submission of a bid is conclusive assurance and warranty that the Bidder has examined the materials, visited the site, and understands all requirements for the performance of the work. The bidder will be responsible for all errors in the proposal resulting from failure or neglect to conduct an in-depth examination. The Village of Pingree Grove will, not be responsible for any additional cost, expenses, losses, or changes in anticipated profits resulting from such failure or neglect of the bidder.

Bidders shall not take advantage of any errors or omissions in the proposal and advertised contract.

Any errors discovered in the bids received shall be corrected using the unit price submitted. The contract will be awarded after these adjustments are made.

1. QUALIFICATIONS OF BIDDERS: To demonstrate qualifications to perform the Work, each Bidder must prepare to submit no less than three to five (3-5) customer references for similar work performed; preferably from other government or public sector organizations.

2. INTERPRETATIONS AND ADDENDA: All questions about the meaning or intent of the Contract Documents are to be directed to the Assistant to the Village Manager at npartipilo@pingreegrove.org. Interpretations or clarifications considered necessary by the Assistant to the Village Manager, or their designee(s), in response to such questions will be issued by Addenda and posted on the Village of Pingree Grove web site https://www.villageofpingreegrove.org. Only questions answered by formal written addenda will be binding. Oral and other interpretations or clarifications will be without legal effect. Addenda may also be issued to modify the Bidding Documents as deemed advisable by Owner.

3. CONTRACT TIME & DURATION: Formal Award will be following formal approval at the soonest available Village Board of Trustees Meeting following the bid opening; Board meetings are held the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month.

The Term of this contract will run from March 2026 through March 2029, with the option of two additional one (1) year extensions.

4. BID FORM: All Bids must be made on the required Bid Form. The Bid Form is included with the Bidding Documents.

All blanks on the Bid Form must be completed using the fillable PDF version, by ink, or typewriter.

The Bid shall contain an acknowledgement of receipt of all Addenda (the numbers of which must be filled in on the Bid Form).

5. MODIFICATION AND WITHDRAWAL OF BIDS: If, within twenty-four hours after Bids are opened, any Bidder files a duly signed, written notice with Owner and promptly thereafter demonstrates to the reasonable satisfaction of Owner that there was a material and substantial mistake in the preparation of its Bid, that Bidder may withdraw its Bid and Bid security will be returned. Thereafter, that Bidder will be disqualified from further bidding on the Work to be provided under the Contract Documents.

6. All Bids shall remain open for sixty days for acceptance by Owner after the day of the Bid opening.

7. AWARD OF CONTRACT: Owner reserves the right to reject any and all Bids, to waive any and all informalities and to negotiate contract terms with the Successful Bidder, and the right to disregard all nonconforming, non-responsive or conditional Bids. Discrepancies between words and figures will be resolved in favor of words. Discrepancies between the indicated sum of any column of figures and the correct sum thereof will be resolved in favor of the correct sum.

8. BID EVALUATION: Owner shall consider the qualifications of the Bidders, whether or not the Bids comply with the prescribed requirements, and alternates and unit prices if requested in the Bid Forms.

Owner may consider the qualifications and experience of Subcontractors and other persons and organizations (including those who are to furnish the principal items of material or equipment) proposed for those portions of the Work as to which the identity of Subcontractors and other persons and organizations must be submitted as provided in the Supplementary Conditions. Operating costs, maintenance considerations, performance data and guarantee of materials and equipment may also be considered by Owner.

Owner may conduct such investigations as deemed necessary to assist in the evaluation of any bid and to establish the responsibility, qualifications and financial ability of the Bidders, proposed Subcontractors and other persons and organizations to do the work in accordance with the Contract Documents to Owner’s satisfaction within the prescribed time.

Owner reserves the right to reject the Bid of any Bidder who does not pass any such evaluation to Owner’s satisfaction.

A conditional Bid will not be accepted.

9. AWARD: If the contract is to be awarded, it will be awarded to the lowest, responsive, responsible Bidder whose evaluation by Owner indicates that the award will be in the best interests of the Owner.

If the contract is to be awarded, Owner will give the Successful Bidder a Notice of Award within sixty days after the day of the Bid opening.

10. SIGNING OF AGREEMENT: When Owner gives a Notice of Award to the Successful Bidder, at least three unsigned counterparts of the Agreement and all other Contract Documents will accompany it. Within fifteen days thereafter Awarded Bidder shall sign and deliver at least three counterparts of the Agreement to Owner with all other Contract Documents attached. Within ten days thereafter Owner will deliver all fully signed counterparts to Awarded Bidder.

PROPOSAL

The following proposal is hereby made to the Village of Pingree Grove, Illinois, hereinafter called the Owner.

Proposal is submitted in DUPLICATE by___________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The undersigned hereby proposes and agrees to furnish all the necessary labor, materials, equipment, tools and services necessary to perform the “IT Consulting Services” in accordance with the Specifications and Procedural documents attached.

In submitting this proposal the undersigned declares that the only persons or parties interested in the

Proposal as principals are those named herein and that the Proposal is made without collusion with any other person, firm, or corporation.

The Undersigned acknowledges receipt of the following Addenda.

Addendum No. Date Initials

____________ ___________ ___________

____________ ___________ ___________

____________ ___________ ___________

The Undersigned, or a representative for the undersigned, attended the on-site walkthrough on February 17, 2026, at 9 A.M.

Yes: __________ No: __________

The Undersigned declares that they have examined the contents of this document, and are familiar with the local conditions at the site where the work is to be performed and with the conditions affecting the Contract requirements and understands that in making this Proposal, they waive all right to plead any misunderstanding regarding the same.

The undersigned further agrees prosecute the work in such a manner and with sufficient materials, equipment, and labor as will ensure its completion by the completion date, it being understood and agreed that the completion within the time limit is an essential part of the Contract.

The undersigned hereby proposes and agrees to furnish all necessary labor, materials, equipment, tools and services necessary to perform the “IT Consulting Services” as described in the contract documents.

_______________________ __________________________ ____________

Name Signature Date

OVERVIEW, TERMS, & SPECIFICATIONS

Village of Pingree Grove Background and Existing Conditions

The Village of Pingree Grove, Illinois (Owner) is seeking proposals from a qualified consulting firm or project team, hereinafter referred to as the Contractor, to perform Information Technology Consulting Services across Village locations. Services shall be in full accordance with the specifications, terms, and conditions contained in this Request for Proposal (RFP).

The Village of Pingree Grove was incorporated in 1907 and today serves an area of approximately 3.65 square miles. The Village is a non-home-rule municipality and operates under the Village Board form of government. The Village’s Board consists of a Village President and six Trustees. The Village supports a constantly growing population of 12,000+ residents with Police, Public Works, Development, and Administrative services, and a Village staff of approximately 40 full and part-time employees. The Village’s current IT needs are provided via a third-party consultant, as there are no dedicated IT employees on the Village staff. The intent of the Village is for the selected IT Consultant to provide all IT Service needs to Village staff and elected officials.

Locations in which the Village operates are as follows:

• Municipal Center – 555 Reinking Road, Pingree Grove, IL 60140

• Police Department – 1 Police Plaza, Pingree Grove, IL 60140

• Water Treatment Plant 1 – 200 Water Street, Pingree Grove, IL 60140

• Water Treatment Plant 2 – 1750 Andrea Boulevard, Pingree Grove, IL 60140

• Waste Water Treatment Plant – 275 Water Street, Pingree Grove, IL 60140

Current software and hardware used by the Village include, but are not limited to:

• 5 servers, both local and cloud-based. 2 at the Municipal Center, 3 at the Police Department.

• 45 workstations

• 68 total users, including Village staff and elected officials

• 19 Microsoft 365 Business Standard Accounts owned by the Village

• 55 Microsoft 365 Business Basic Accounts owned by the Village

• 16 Adobe Acrobat Accounts

• 2 managed firewalls with security subscriptions

• 5 remote encrypted off-site backups

• Barracuda Email archiving and security services for all Village emails

• Webroot Cybersecurity Software

• Ruckus Routers

Submittal Information Requested

The following are key points of interest for the Village in the evaluation of submissions. Each submission shall demonstrate its experience in providing the following services or knowledge. Such experience should include, but is not limited to:

• Organizational Model

o Standard practices and policies, including information on client-focused reporting, KPIs, and SLAs

o Application of industry standard support processes

o Customer service philosophy, approach, and any unique tools or approaches that enable consultants to provide high-quality services

• Staffing and service delivery model

o Day-to-day staffing (Remote, on premise, on call, etc.)

o After-hours staffing and support

o Integration with Village staff and day-to-day operations (Including access for key village staff into technical resources)

o How IT staff is contacted, and issues addressed – more specifically, what does the lifespan of an “IT Helpdesk ticket” look like?

• Solutions for scalable staffing

o Supplemental work, projects, and meetings

o Escalation of issues to higher support levels

o Documentation of the client’s environment, systems, and support

o On-demand needs or projects

• Proactive support

o Monitoring, detection, alerting, outages, resolution, with the network and across SaaS and cloud environments.

o Notification methods for system/performance failures and security incidents

• Network architecture engineering, analysis, management, and support

o Network Operations Center (NOC)

o Depth of network management

o Management of microwave links

• Cybersecurity

o Coverage of IT Security and Information Security

o Coverage of local and cloud based solutions

o Security incident response

o Security Operations Center (SOC)

o End user training

• Record of success, innovation, and knowledge of municipal IT standards

o How your method has improved client IT services

o Consulting and strategic planning services for the Village

o Familiarity with the Illinois Records Retention Act

The Village is seeking interest from firms that can meet or exceed these goals in a systematic

manner. The Village expects the Consultant:

a) To be innovative and offer solutions to build an organizational IT support stack that can maximize both immediate and future opportunities, yet still provide a high-quality service level, and meet the business needs and project goals of the Village.

b) To be a partner with the Village in being open and flexible with the model. It is vital that areas for increased efficiency and reduced costs are constantly sought out, communicated, and shared with the Village.

Please state your experience with the following software and hardware. If you are not familiar with any of these programs/systems, please state as such:

Microsoft Office

Microsoft Virtual Servers

Microsoft Teams

Zoom

BS&A Cloud and Web-Based

Managed Services

Barracuda Backup

DACRA Tech

Civics Plus and Civis Engage

Ruckus Routers

Cisco Routers

Netmotion Server and Client

Law Enforcement Mobile Data Computing

Voice over IP technology

FLOCK Camera Software

ArcGIS

Verizon Connect GPS

EXACQ Vision Cameras

Alta Access Cameras

Adobe

GoGov Web Application

Following the bid opening, staff will conduct interviews with firms that submitted bids during the first week of March 2026. The three highest graded firms will be invited to interview with the Village. Staff will reach out to firms to schedule virtual or in-person interviews. The interviews will be used in the final evaluation of proposals.

Review Criteria and Pricing

Contractors shall be ranked based on the following criteria. The Village is seeking a fixed-fee, monthly-billed contract for full IT support, as detailed in this document. Additionally, bidders must present their costs for after-hours and emergency desktop support services as well as network administration. Subsequently, if your firm has a standard agreement for hardware or software purchases, please provide this with your bid submittal. Any additional pricing information that the bidder finds to be relevant to this bid is to be submitted with the required documents.

Maximum Points	Category
30	Qualifications & Experience of Firm • Qualifications and experience working with Law Enforcement & Government agencies • Provide at least three (3) references with a minimum of one (1) government and one (2) law enforcement agency all references shall be within the past three (3) years
30	Knowledge/Understanding of the Village’s Network • Affirmative responses to the software programs and hardware identified
30	Contract Price
5	Scheduling • Willingness to meet time and budget requirements, where necessary. • Recent, current and projected workload(s) of the consultant. 24/7 availability of key personnel when and if necessary.
5	Location considerations and how it impacts on maintaining effective communication between the Town & Consultant: • Location of the consultant and proximity of key personnel.

TERMS OF CONTRACT

The Village shall award an agreement with a term of three (3) years. Following the completion of the three-year term, the Village reserves the right to extend the term of the contract by one (1) year, up to two (2) times. Please provide pricing options for the 3-year term of the contract as well as pricing for the two potential extensions.

CONTRACT

THIS AGREEMENT made this (Date), by and between the Village of Pingree Grove, County of Kane, State of Illinois, hereinafter called the "Village", and (Contractor), of

(address) hereinafter called "Contractor".

WITNESSETH: That for and in consideration of the payments and agreements hereinafter mentioned:

The Contractor will furnish all materials, supplies, tools, equipment, labor, and other services necessary to commence , in accordance with the conditions and prices stated in the Proposal, Notice to Contractors, Instructions to Bidders, Plans and Specifications, and Schedule of Unit Prices, all of which are made a part hereof and herein called "Contract Documents."

All terms, conditions, representations, specifications, promises, and undertakings contained in the Bidders' Proposal, the Instructions to Bidders, and Specifications for the Village of Pingree Grove and Supplemental Special Provisions of this contract, form part and partial this contract as if they were fully set forth herein. The owner will pay the Contractor in the amounts, manner, and at times as set forth in the Contract Documents.

The Contractor agrees to comply with all applicable local, state, and federal laws as well as prevailing wage requirements.

The Contractor shall indemnify and save harmless the Village and its officers and agents and employees from and against all losses and all claims, demands, payments, suits, actions, recoveries and judgments of every nature or act of the Contractor, his agents or employees, in the execution of the work or in the guarding of it. No provision of this agreement shall constitute a waiver of the Village’s right to assert a defense based on sovereign immunity, official immunity, or any other immunity available under law.

This agreement is binding upon the parties hereto and their respective heirs, executors, administrators, successors, or assigns.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have executed or caused to be executed by their duly authorized officials, this Agreement as of the day and year first above written.

Attest By : Village of Pingree Grove:

Signature Signature

Laura Ortega, Village Clerk Amber Kubiak, Village President

Attest By: Contractor:

Signature Signature

Printed Name and Title Printed Name and Title