Statewide Procurement Effort Grows WAP Contractor Base in Illinois

About the Project

The Illinois Office of Community Assistance (the state Weatherization Assistance Program [WAP] organization) and the Community and Economic Development Association of Cook County (a local WAP organization) worked together to develop and implement a statewide procurement strategy for weatherization.

Challenge    

Illinois has a large number of WAP Subgrantees throughout their state, which leads to challenges in recruiting contractors that work across service territory boundaries.

Solution

The Office of Community Assistance and the Community and Economic Development Association of Cook County collaborated to develop and implement a statewide procurement strategy for weatherization. They began with a regional market analysis to understand existing contractors in related fields. They then developed standard procurement templates for use across the state and conducted outreach to contractors, contractor associations, vendors, distributors, and training partners.  

For them, an effective approach for engaging with new potential contractors was to meet them where they were at, make it easy to learn about WAP, and tailor their messaging to what would be most likely to catch the contractors’ attention. For example, they hosted “lunch and learns” at local vendor sites, providing free lunch and a 15-minute presentation (informal, no slides) about WAP and potential benefits to becoming part of their statewide contractor network. 

Positive Impact    

The statewide approach has streamlined the procurement processes for contractors and eased the burden for Subgrantees. It also was a way to educate contractors and other stakeholders in the local home construction and renovation industries about WAP and opportunities to work together.

This story was developed using content shared for the U.S. Department of Energy Workforce Development Toolkit.