Illinois Tollway And Illinois Capital Development Board Partner To Host Networking Event For Building And Facilities Construction Professionals

DOWNERS GROVE, IL – The Illinois Tollway, in partnership with the Illinois Capital Development Board (CDB), will host a free Building and Facilities Construction Networking Event on Wednesday, March 5, to provide an opportunity for large and small businesses – including disadvantaged, minority- and women-owned business enterprises (D/M/WBE) – to learn how to participate in upcoming projects.

“This event will help Illinois’ incredibly diverse array of construction firms learn how to do business with state agencies, which will create jobs and drive local economies forward,” Governor Pat Quinn said. “The agencies will also benefit by having a larger pool of vendors competing for their contracts, and this will keep costs lower for taxpayers.”

As part of the Illinois Tollway’s 15-year, $12 billion capital program, Move Illinois: The Illinois Tollway Driving the Future, the Tollway plans to invest $506 million for work on various Tollway-owned buildings and maintenance facilities. In addition, as part of Move Illinois the Illinois Tollway has committed to seek a recognized green project standards certification for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for maintenance site projects.

“The Illinois Tollway is reaching out to let contractors involved in the building and facilities construction industry know that there are opportunities for their businesses in the Move Illinois Program,” said Illinois Tollway Executive Director Kristi Lafleur. “The Tollway is committed to providing opportunities to firms of all sizes, and our building and facilities projects are a key area for these opportunities.”

The CDB manages many of the projects that are part of Governor Quinn’s $31 billion Illinois Jobs Now! program, which will support more than 439,000 jobs over six years. Illinois Jobs Now! is the largest capital construction program in Illinois history, and is one of the largest capital construction programs in the nation. CDB currently has 187 projects in design that will be bidding in the future.

“The program will give firms who may not have done state construction work in the past the opportunity to network with key CDB personnel and to learn the basic requirements for participating in state construction projects, including prequalification,” CDB Director Jim Underwood said.

The networking event will be held at Westin Lombard Yorktown Center, 70 Yorktown Center in Lombard, from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., and will provide small businesses the opportunity to establish or build relationships with larger construction companies currently doing business with the Tollway.

Illinois Tollway Executive Director Kristi Lafleur, Tollway Chief Engineer Paul Kovacs, Tollway Diversity and Strategic Development Chief Gustavo Giraldo, CDB Chief of Staff Gil Villegas and CDB Fair Employment Practice Administrator Jesse Martinez will provide presentations at the Building and Facilities Construction Networking Event, which will include an overview of Tollway and CDB building and facility projects scheduled for 2014, as well as information about the prequalification process and Tollway and CDB diversity programs.

Event exhibitors will include Gilbane Building Co,. John Burns Construction, Pepper Construction, Power Construction Co., Stenstrom Excavation and Blacktop Group and Walsh Construction.
Pre-registration closes at noon on March 3, but onsite registration will be available beginning at 12:30 p.m. on March 5, 2014.

About the Illinois Capital Development Board
The professional architects, engineers, project managers, construction experts, and staff of the Capital Development Board oversee the design, construction and renovation of more than 8,700 state-funded facilities. The CDB manages projects that touch the lives of almost every Illinois citizen with work on colleges and universities, public safety centers, museums and historic sites, state parks, health centers, office buildings, and correctional centers. Its management of Governor Pat Quinn’s Green Building Initiative have helped place Illinois at the top of the U.S. Green Building Council’s list of states with green buildings. The Capital Development Board in partnership with the Illinois State Board of Education has provided more than $3.4 billion in state grants for school construction and renovation, which has benefited more than 500 elementary and secondary school districts in every part of the state.

About Move Illinois
The Illinois Tollway’s $12 billion capital program, Move Illinois: The Illinois Tollway Driving the Future, will improve mobility, relieve congestion, reduce pollution, create as many as 120,000 jobs and link economies across the Midwest region. Move Illinois will address the remaining needs of the existing Tollway system; rebuild and widen the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-90) as a state-of-the-art 21st century corridor; construct a new interchange to connect the Tri-State Tollway (I-294) to I-57; build a new, all-electronic Elgin O’Hare Western Access and fund planning studies for the Illinois Route 53/120 Project and the Illiana Expressway.

About the Illinois Tollway
The Illinois Tollway is a user-fee system that receives no state or federal funds for maintenance and operations. The agency maintains and operates 286 miles of interstate tollways in 12 counties in Northern Illinois, including the Reagan Memorial Tollway (I-88), the Veterans Memorial Tollway (I-355), the Jane Addams Memorial Toll