Construction

The Illinois Tollway Technical Assistance Program offers construction firms guidance and feedback on general business and construction-specific operations including:

• Strategic planning
• Estimating
• Assistance with IDOT pre-qualification applications
• Post-award services

Professional Engineering Services

The Illinois Tollway Technical Assistance Program offers professional engineering services firms guidance and feedback on general business and engineering-specific operations including:

• Statement of Interest preparation
• Post-award services

SUPPORT FOR MENTOR AND PROTÉGÉS

Illinois Tollway Technical Assistance Program providers are available to assist both construction and professional services mentors and protégés at every step. All protégés must have an assessment completed and, if needed, a comprehensive business development plan preparing them for participation in a Partnering for Growth relationship. Once protégés are evaluated, they are entered in a pool to be reviewed by potential mentors. Technical Assistance providers are also available to assist both mentors and protégés during the P4G relationship as needed.

Assistance is also available via the Tollway’s Building for Success Webinar Series. The series is designed to help businesses learn in detail about the various programs and opportunities the Tollway has to offer. The Building for Success webinar series takes place every Monday at 3 p.m. and all webinars are recorded and available for viewing online at your convenience.

PARTNERING FOR GROWTH BENEFITS

• Both mentors and protégés benefit from newly formed business relationships
• Protégés gain experience and valuable assistance to improve business practices and obtain new prequalifications or expand current prequalifications
• Construction mentors and protégés earn bid credits that may give a competitive edge in pursuing Tollway construction contracts
• The new Emerging Technologies Partnering for Growth (P4G) Construction Agreement encourages short-term relationships focused on sharing the latest in construction equipment and technology
• Larger professional services firms may mentor a D/M/WBE, VOSB or SBI firm priming a Tollway contract in a reverse P4G agreement
• Tollway increases the pool of firms to support Move Illinois and fosters competition in the marketplace

Who Can Participate?

To compete for work on Small Business Initiative contracts, prime and subcontractors must have gross revenues of $14 million or less annually.

Prime contractors and subcontractors participating on Small Business Initiative contracts must be registered in the program. Prime contractors may utilize the Vendor Directory in B2GNow to find registered subcontractors.

Vendor Directory in B2GNow

How to Register

Participating firms must register for the program using the Illinois Tollway Diversity Program System. All Small Business Initiative documentation must be completed through this electronic system. 

The Diversity Program System allows vendors to easily complete online applications for registration, update contact information and look up registered firms. 

Firms must also be registered with the Chief Procurement Office for General Services Small Business Set-Aside Program (SBSP) as a small business.  

Special Provision for Small Business Initiative

  Hiring Portal

Bid Credit Operational Guidelines

$15 Reimbursement Guildelines

0006 Bid Credit Request Form

Contractor Interest Form

  Candidate Interest Form

Location Maps

Regional

>>Download the map here.  

This map shows the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority service territory in northeastern Illinois, divided into three color-coded regions. Area 1, shown in yellow, covers the western and northern suburbs including Rockford, Elgin, and Aurora, and includes the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway, the Reagan Memorial Tollway, and the Illinois Route 390 Tollway. Area 2, shown in orange, covers the southern suburbs including Joliet, Tinley Park, and Chicago Heights, along the Tri-State Tollway and Veterans Memorial Tollway. The Chicago Areas, shown in teal, run along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Numbered zones from 1 to 5 indicate specific service locations across the territory.

Chicago

>>Download the map here.  

This map shows the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority service zones within the Chicago metropolitan area, divided into four color-coded regions. Area 3A, shown in pink, covers the northern Chicago neighborhoods and northwestern suburbs near Chicago O'Hare International Airport, including Norwood Park, Jefferson Park, Portage Park, and Dunning. Area 3B, shown in orange, covers central Chicago neighborhoods including Austin, North Lawndale, Humboldt, West Town, and the Near West Side. Area 4A, shown in light blue, covers the south-central Chicago neighborhoods including Archer Heights, Brighton Park, Englewood, McKinley Park, and Hyde Park. Area 4B, shown in darker blue, covers the southernmost Chicago neighborhoods including Beverly, Roseland, West Pullman, and Riverdale, extending to the South Chicago and Hegewisch areas along Lake Michigan. Numbered zones from 6 to 16 indicate specific service locations distributed across all four areas. Lake Michigan is visible along the eastern edge of the map.

For Employment Candidates: 

Start your career in Construction

By joining our program, you will gain access to comprehensive training, job placement assistance, and a network with construction companies that are hiring.

Through ConstructionWorks, candidates will be connected to an experienced team member who specializes in customized construction industry preparation.

To better assist with long-term career success, the program will also provide support services for candidates to overcome barriers to attain employment.

Interested? Complete the ConstructionWorks Candidate Interest form.

What You Gain

This image displays six program benefits represented by orange line-style icons arranged horizontally. The benefits are: Customized Training, depicted by a building icon; Career Planning, depicted by a person at a presentation board; Essential and Growing Industry, depicted by a worker wearing a hard hat; Work Apparel and Tools, depicted by a wrench and screwdriver crossed; Support Services, depicted by two people sitting across a table; and Training Referrals, depicted by a person connected to a network of other people.

How It Works

This infographic illustrates four steps in a construction career pathway program, displayed as ascending color-coded blocks. Step one, in orange, states: Access to support agencies throughout Illinois, accompanied by an icon of a computer screen with a blueprint. Step two, in dark blue, states: Work with the support team to get on the road to a career in heavy highway construction, accompanied by a construction crane icon. Step three, in red, states: Learn through hands-on construction training and union apprenticeships, accompanied by an icon of bricks and an upward arrow. Step four, in green, states: Gain a competitive advantage by being entered into the Tollway's Hiring Portal to get hired by contractors, accompanied by a house icon.

Are you ready to start a career in construction?

• Can you work outdoors in hot and cold environments?
• Do you mind getting dirty on the job?
• Are you able to work on your feet 8 hours or more a day?
• Can you lift over 50 pounds?

If you answered YES!

To Qualify:

• Must want to work in the construction industry.
• Be 18 years of age or older.
• Eligible to work in the United States.
• Have a High School Diploma or GED.

For Construction Contractors:

The ConstructionWorks program provides you with direct access to a pool of diverse employment candidates with all levels of skills to fill your workforce needs. Our candidates are housed in the Tollway’s Hiring Portal, where you can search for the right candidates and track your efforts.

In addition, by hiring and retaining ConstructionWorks candidates, contractors—both prime and subcontractors are eligible to receive the following incentives:

First Incentive: Cash Reimbursement
For every hour worked by a CW hired candidate on Tollway projects, contractors can receive a $15 cash reimbursement. The maximum limit for this reimbursement can be up to an impressive $100,000, depending on the contract.

Second Incentive: Bid Credits
Bid Credits are virtual dollars contractors, and subcontractors earn for every dollar paid to a CW candidate on any Tollway construction project or any construction project in Illinois.

Bid Credits are a great tool that allows the contractor or subcontractor to accumulate them and use them to lower their bid and increase their chances of winning the contract as the lower bidder on future construction projects advertised by the Tollway.

ConstructionWorks Bid Credits are awarded as follows:

• Operating Engineers and Structural Steel Ironworkers: .75 cents on the dollar
• Skilled Trades and Fabricators – .65 cents on the dollar
• Laborers – .55 cents on the dollar
• First-time CW hires earn an additional $5,000 bid credit bonus after accumulating 160 work hours.

Note: Bid credits are incentives offered through three Diversity Programs, and bid credits are combined to use. These programs are ConstructionWorks (CW), Earned Credit Program (ECP), and Partnering for Growth (P4G). Here, you can see an overview of all three programs.