2026-27 Illinois & Wisconsin Road Salt Procurement Calendar

Road salt is one of the clearest seasonal public-procurement lanes in the Upper Midwest, but a useful calendar must distinguish a solicitation from an award, a cooperative contract from a local service bid, and a delivery milestone from a new buying opportunity. This page uses official Illinois, Wisconsin, county, and municipal records checked on August 15, 2026.

Current-status note: the statewide 2026-27 salt solicitation deadlines described below have passed; the Illinois record also posts a notice of award. This is a planning and fulfillment watch—not a list of open bids. Always open the official source before treating a date, quantity, price, or stage as current.

2026-27 Statewide Procurement Calendar

ProgramSolicitation milestonesContract and delivery window
Wisconsin DOT statewide road salt, Bid 510654 Questions were due May 19, 2026; bids were due June 1, 2026. The initial term runs July 1, 2026 through April 30, 2027. Early-fill orders should be completed by October 1. The bid sets staged fall delivery milestones and seasonal-fill completion by April 30.
Illinois CMS joint-purchase bulk rock salt, Bid B-52513 The solicitation became available May 18, 2026; bids opened June 30; BidBuy posted the notice of award July 28. The joint-purchase master contract runs October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027 and lists participating delivery locations and quantities.

These two programs show a May-to-June statewide salt-solicitation window for this season. They do not establish a guaranteed annual calendar for every local plowing, deicing, hauling, equipment, or facility contract.

What the Official Sources Show

Wisconsin: statewide contract plus local delivery planning

WisDOT's official request for bid covers statewide winter-maintenance salt for county and local government use. It defines early fill, seasonal fill, vendor reserve, delivery forms, and deadlines. Oconto County's official Highway Committee packet supplies the local planning layer: the county reported an 8,178-ton request to WisDOT for the coming winter and described the state bid as the next pricing step.

Open the WisDOT 2026-27 salt RFB · Open the Oconto County source packet

Illinois: joint purchasing can carry hundreds of delivery lines

Illinois CMS Bid B-52513 established the FY27 joint-purchase master contract for bulk rock salt. The official BidBuy record lists 913 line items, including local public works delivery locations and quantities, and clearly marks the July 28 update as a notice of award rather than a new bid opportunity.

Open the Illinois FY27 BidBuy record

Local contract actions may be renewals, not new solicitations

The City of Wheaton's July 2026 memorandum recommended a one-year extension through DuPage County's joint purchase. It records an estimated 2,500 tons, a $74.33 per-ton price, and a $185,825 annual cost. That is useful market evidence, but it is a completed renewal action—not an open bid.

Open the City of Wheaton memorandum

How to Use This Calendar

  • Salt suppliers and haulers: work backward from statewide solicitation, award, order, and delivery milestones; distinguish guaranteed tonnage from reserve quantities.
  • Snow and ice service firms: use the state calendar as context, then monitor each body's official agendas and procurement page for separate plowing, parking-lot, facility, or deicing service contracts.
  • Equipment vendors: watch post-winter maintenance reports, fleet replacement discussions, and budget actions; do not treat a reported equipment problem as an approved purchase.
  • Business-development teams: record the source-stated stage and recheck it before outreach. An award, extension, termination, or undetermined need is not an anticipated RFP.

Road Salt and Winter-Operations Pursuit Worksheet

Buying body and official sourceLink the state, county, city, or cooperative-purchasing record that supports the observation.
Observed stageMark planning, solicitation, award, renewal, order, delivery, or undetermined—exactly as the source states.
Scope and quantityCapture material type, tonnage, delivery locations, reserve quantities, hauling, or service area.
Contract termRecord the source-stated start, end, and renewal options without assuming the next cycle.
Order and delivery milestonesNote early-fill orders, staged deliveries, seasonal-fill deadlines, and required forms.
Separate local-service watchTrack plowing, deicing, grounds, facilities, equipment, and hauling as distinct scopes.
Owner and next checkAssign the next official-source review and follow-up date.

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