The City of Chicago is committed to ensuring that all vendors are paid in an efficient and timely manner for all services rendered and goods delivered.  In August 2020, the Department of Procurement Services (DPS) and Department of Finance (DOF) created the “Prompt Payment Working Group” to analyze and develop process improvements to help streamline payments for the City’s construction contracts. 

In September 2020, the Task Force began a pilot program to review existing processes for the City’s four (4) major infrastructure departments which manage construction contracts (Assets and Information and Services “AIS”, Chicago Department of Aviation “CDA”, Chicago Department of Transportation “CDOT”, Department of Water Management “DWM”).  The areas of review included:

1. evaluating and identifying redundancies which cause delays in payments,
2. creating standardized city-wide policies to address payment processing time,
3. reviewing existing retainage policy,
4. evaluating contractual payment terms for opportunities to include compressed timelines for invoice submissions,
5. identifying any other areas that affect and contribute to increased processing times. 

The Prompt Payment Working Group recommendations were issued in June 2021. Phase two of the Pilot started in January 2022, with the goal of implementing many of the recommendations in the report by the first half of 2022.

To review the report, click here.