(a) No later than 60 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly, the Chief Procurement Officer for General Services, in consultation with the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, shall conduct and complete any procurement necessary to procure a vendor to verify eligibility for assistance under Article V of this Code. Such authority shall include procuring a vendor to assist the Chief Procurement Officer in conducting the procurement. The Chief Procurement Officer and the Department shall jointly negotiate final contract terms with a vendor selected by the Chief Procurement Officer. Within 30 days of selection of an eligibility verification vendor, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services shall enter into a contract with the selected vendor. The Department of Healthcare and Family Services and the Department of Human Services shall cooperate with and provide any information requested by the Chief Procurement Officer to conduct the procurement.

(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any procurement or contract necessary to comply with this Section shall be exempt from: (i) the Illinois Procurement Code pursuant to Section 1-10(h) of the Illinois Procurement Code, except that bidders shall comply with the disclosure requirement in Sections 50-10.5(a) through (d), 50-13, 50-35, and 50-37 of the Illinois Procurement Code and a vendor awarded a contract under this Section shall comply with Section 50-37 of the Illinois Procurement Code; (ii) any administrative rules of this State pertaining to procurement or contract formation; and (iii) any State or Department policies or procedures pertaining to procurement, contract formation, contract award, and Business Enterprise Program approval.

(c) Upon becoming operational, the contractor shall conduct data matches using the name, date of birth, address, and Social Security Number of each applicant and recipient against public records to verify eligibility. The contractor, upon preliminary determination that an enrollee is eligible or ineligible, shall notify the Department, except that the contractor shall not make preliminary determinations regarding the eligibility of persons residing in long term care facilities whose income and resources were at or below the applicable financial eligibility standards at the time of their last review. Within 20 business days of such notification, the Department shall accept the recommendation or reject it with a stated reason. The Department shall retain final authority over eligibility determinations. The contractor shall keep a record of all preliminary determinations of ineligibility communicated to the Department. Within 30 days of the end of each calendar quarter, the Department and contractor shall file a joint report on a quarterly basis to the Governor, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, the Senate President, and the Senate Minority Leader. The report shall include, but shall not be limited to, monthly recommendations of preliminary determinations of eligibility or ineligibility communicated by the contractor, the actions taken on those preliminary determinations by the Department, and the stated reasons for those recommendations that the Department rejected.

(d) An eligibility verification vendor contract shall be awarded for an initial 2-year period with up to a maximum of 2 one-year renewal options. Nothing in this Section shall compel the award of a contract to a vendor that fails to meet the needs of the Department. A contract with a vendor to assist in the procurement shall be awarded for a period of time not to exceed 6 months.

(e) The provisions of this Section shall be administered in compliance with federal law.

(Source: P.A. 101-10, eff. 6-5-19; 101-209, eff. 8-5-19.)