REPORT DIGEST

ILLINOIS STATE TOLL HIGHWAY AUTHORITY

COMPLIANCE EXAMINATION
FOR THE TWO YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2024

Release Date:  August 26, 2025

FINDINGS THIS AUDIT: 4

CATEGORY:  NEW -- REPEAT – TOTAL
Category 1:  0 -- 0 -- 0
Category 2:  3 -- 1 -- 4
Category 3:  0 -- 0 -- 0
TOTAL:  3 -- 1 -- 4

FINDINGS LAST AUDIT: 4

State of Illinois, Office of the Auditor
General
FRANK J. MAUTINO, AUDITOR GENERAL

To obtain a copy of the Report contact:
Office of the Auditor General, 400 West
Monroe, Suite 306, Springfield, IL
62704-9849
(217) 782-6046 or TTY (888) 261-2887

This Report Digest and Full Report are also
available on the worldwide web at
www.auditor.illinois.gov

INTRODUCTION

This digest covers the Illinois State Toll
Highway Authority’s (Tollway) Compliance
Examination for the two years ended December
31, 2024. A separate digest covering the
Tollway’s financial audit for the year ended
December 31, 2024 was previously released on
July 24, 2025. In total, this report
contains 4 findings, none of which were
reported in the Financial Audit.

SYNOPSIS

• (24-1) The Tollway failed to comply with
the Illinois Procurement Code and the Open
Meetings 		Act.
• (24-2) The Tollway failed to comply with
the Public Construction Bonds Act.

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THE ILLINOIS
PROCUREMENT CODE AND OPEN MEETINGS ACT

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority
(the Tollway) failed to comply with the
Illinois Procurement Code (Code) and the
Open Meetings Act (Act).

The Tollway awarded a contract for
$323,875,273 in relation to a construction
project but failed to apply the 4% bid
preference provision for Illinois businesses
set forth in and required by the Code. Upon
recognizing its inadvertent error, the
Tollway terminated the contract.
Subsequently, pursuant to regular Tollway
procedures, the Tollway awarded the contract
to another vendor, specifically, the vendor
to which the contract should have been
awarded in the first instance. As a result
of the termination, the vendor to which the
contract initially was awarded filed a
lawsuit as well as an administrative
protest. The Tollway and that vendor settled
and resolved said matters for $32,135,437 of
which approximately $22,150,000 was paid for
construction costs already incurred and
$9,985,437 was paid as damages.

The Tollway Board of Directors (Board)
approved the settlement of the lawsuit and
administrative protest on August 29, 2024.
More specifically, after ending the closed
session of its August 29, 2024, board
meeting, the Board voted to approve the
settlement during the live streamed, open
session of the meeting. However, before
taking that vote, the Board failed to notify
members of the public who were attending the
meeting in person that it had resumed open
session. This failure precluded members of
the public who attended the meeting in
person from observing the reconvened portion
of the board meeting. (Finding 1, pages 8-9)

We recommended the Tollway review all
legislative changes affecting the Tollway in
a timely manner to mitigate potential
instances of noncompliance with state
legislation in the future.  We also
recommended that during board meetings, the
Tollway notify members of the public when
the board has ended closed session and will
be resuming open session.

Tollway management concurred with the
recommendations.


FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THE PUBLIC
CONSTRUCTION BONDS ACT

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority
(Tollway) failed to comply with the Public
Construction Bonds Act.
During our testing of the Public
Construction Bonds Act (Act), we noted the
Tollway did not publicly display the
identities of the sureties providing
contract bonds, payment, and performance
bonds, or both for its public works
contracts. (Finding 2, page 10)

We recommended the Tollway review its
procedures to ensure all required
information is publicly available in
compliance with the Act.

Tollway management concurred with the
recommendation.

OTHER FINDINGS

The remaining findings are reportedly being
given attention by the Authority. We will
review the Authority’s progress towards the
implementation of our recommendations in our
next compliance examination.

AUDITOR’S OPINION

The auditors stated the financial statements
of the Authority as of and for the year
ended December 31, 2024, are fairly stated
in all material respects.

ACCOUNTANT’S OPINION

The accountants conducted a compliance
examination of the Authority for the two
years ended December 31, 2024, as required
by the Illinois State Auditing Act.  The
accountants stated the Authority complied,
in all material respects, with the specified
requirements.

This compliance examination was conducted by
CliftonLarsonAllen LLP.

COURTNEY DZIERWA
Division Director

This report is transmitted in accordance
with Section 3-14 of the Illinois State
Auditing Act.

FRANK J. MAUTINO
Auditor General

FJM:TLK