State officials are taking bids to have one company supply soft drink vending machines at state facilities, including NEIU as well as other universities. Central Management Services (CMS) exist to provide services to general public along with other state agencies.
The CMS has been working on taking bids for years now to have one contractor take over the handling of all soft drink vending machines in most of the state government facilities and some universities around Illinois.
These services include, but are not limited to, procurement expertise and property management all around Illinois. The CMS also works to make sure that state agencies operate at their full potential by running as efficiently and as cost-effectively as possible. By doing so, the agency ensures that the people of Illinois are given the best attention and services as possible.
The Department of Revenue is handling this process and Mike Klemens is the Department of Revenue’s spokesperson. “If all of these agencies are put into one contract then we will spend less time dealing with the soda guy.
“A package putting everything together in one contract will mean we will get someone that is willing to pay for the right to handle all machines involved. That contractor will pay for the right to sell said beverages from the machines and service them as well.”
The contract will be in place for 30 years and the contractor will make annual payments. The contract is so long because the contractor will need the time to make their money back, as the machines are expensive.
According to state bidding documents, vending machines in the areas affected have brought in $8 million in sales during an unspecified time period. There has even been talk of having an official state beverage where one company would pay for the right to dispense that beverage. However, according to Klemens, the proposal that is up currently does not state that.
There are 2,400 machines involved in this deal, and whoever wins the deal will have to be able to reach all of the locations successfully.
“We want people to bid as it’s been in the works for some time now,” said Klemens. With this proposal things can go several different ways. “There could be Coke, Pepsi or anything else, or we could even have an international beverage company outside of Coke and Pepsi,” he continued. Bids were opened up to several schools, but only the University of Illinois and NEIU chose to opt in.
If NEIU wins the contract, the revenue will go to the school to pay for the machines themselves and possibly towards other areas of need. All parties included need to have their proposals in by Feb. 19 in order to be considered.