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Illinois Department of Military Affairs

The Illinois Department of Military Affairs directly supports the Illinois National Guard and oversees the Illinois State Military Museum, the Illinois Military Family Relief Fund and Lincoln's Challenge Academy.

Maj. Gen. (ret.) William Cobetto is the Chief of Staff of the Illinois Department of Military Affairs.

Lincoln’s Challenge Academy

Lincoln’s ChalleNGe Academy is a quasi-military structured education program for Illinois youth 15 1/2 to 18 years old. It offers a safe residential environment with a life skills and character-building curriculum for an opportunity to help change their future for the better. LCA uses a holistic approach to help cadets become responsible and productive members of their communities. Cadets have the opportunity to gain positive values, receive job skill certifications, and academic credentials, and learn life skills to help them better prepare themselves. They use skills in the 12-month Post Residential Phase as they follow their life plan, work with their mentor, and continued support from the academy. LCA is a voluntary program. Cadets are not court-ordered or placed in the program. It is a choice they make to change the direction of their lives.

Illinois Military Family Relief Fund

The Illinois Military Family Relief Fund (IMFRF) provides monetary grants to families of Illinois National Guard members and Illinois residents serving in the U.S. Armed Forces Reserve components who were called to active duty during an emergency declared by the President of the United States or Congress effective July 3, 2014.

Since its inception in 2003, the IMFRF has provided more than $15.4 million in support of 28,840 families of deployed servicemembers. 

State Personnel

As the HR department for the Department of Military Affairs we provide services to DMA employees and support the Army and Air National Guard. lf you are interested in a position with DMA please check out the Job Posting.

Purchasing and Contracting

Department of Military Affairs-State Procurement & Contracting Office

The State Procurement & Contracting Office provides services to both the Dept of Military Affairs and the Illinois National Guard for the acquisition of supplies and services. Our team also ensures compliance with all state statutes and procurement requirements under the guidance of an independent State Purchasing Officer (SPO), under the Chief of Procurement Officer for General Services (CPO-GS) for the State of Illinois

Illinois Procurement Gateway

The IPG is a web based system that serves as the primary location for entering, organizing, and reviewing vendor information. The IPG allows prospective vendors to provide disclosures, registrations, and other docu­mentation needed to do business with a State agency or university in advance of any particular procurement. 
The State uses information submitted through the IPG to prequalify vendors in advance of submitting bids and offers for contracts. Upon satisfactory enrollment, vendors will receive a registration number that may be used in place of paper submission of required forms.

The system includes the following key features: 

  • Automated online vendor registration
  • Online directory of registered vendors with search capabilities
  • Elimination of the need to submit multiple paper-based forms

Bidbuy

The State of Illinois now uses Bid Buy for all acquisitions. Bid Buy is an e-procurement system designed to in­crease procurement efficiency, reduce transaction costs, and improve the availability of information to ven­dors and state agency buyers. Bid Buy will replace many of the procurement tools currently in use, including the Illinois Procurement Bulletin.

Comptroller

The unit of the State Comptroller is the fiscal division for the Department of Military Affairs. Its primary responsibilities are to design, negotiate, and obtain the budget for the agency; to manage and disperse payments to OMA vendors and employees; to reconcile state funds and provide transparency through various reports. 

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