The Assembly’s legislature also changed the environment in which UIUC and BLDD operate. The UIUC’s previous conflict of interest policies barred Jill Maxey from contract scoring and selection for a project any time after BLDD bid on it. However, the university’s testimony to the procurement board indicates that employees in the planning office still occasionally forwarded project-related emails to Jill Maxey during scoring, and the rules did not prevent her from becoming involved in a contract after it was awarded to BLDD.

In this instance, the capital planner also happened to have a possible conflict of interest with BLDD: Tony Battaglia was brother-in-law to a BLDD employee and played an instrument in the firm’s employee band. Battaglia recused himself from voting and negotiating on the contract. BLDD’s contract will be re-bid, rather than awarded to one of the other finalists, two of whom scored within one percentage point of BLDD. Jill Maxey’s reassigned duties include no planning or procurement duties, and the university has not reported to which office she will be relocated permanently.nBLDD did not respond to ENR’s request for comment.