Both certify that a business is at least 51% owned and controlled by members of minority groups, after a review of its papers and its operations. NMSDC certification is national and is granted through regional councils such as the Chicago Minority Supplier Development Council, while BEP certification is the State of Illinois’s, and it’s the one Illinois State contracts count toward their goals. Pace Systems holds both, as a certified MBE through NMSDC by the Chicago MSDC and as a business certified by the Illinois Business Enterprise Program.

What does NMSDC certification check?

The National Minority Supplier Development Council defines a minority business enterprise as a for-profit business at least 51% owned, operated and controlled by one or more U.S. citizens who identify as Asian-Indian, Asian-Pacific, Black, Hispanic or Native American. The minority owners must hold the top job (President or CEO where both exist) and must be active in the daily management of the business.

The review takes in documents, interviews and a site visit, and certified businesses are recertified. NMSDC says plainly that certification does not promise any contract, but what it does tell a buyer is who owns and runs the company, checked by a site visit.

We’ve been minority-owned since our founding in Naperville in 1983, and we hold our MBE certificate through the Chicago Minority Supplier Development Council and renew it each year.

What does Illinois BEP certification check?

The Business Enterprise Program of the Illinois Commission on Equity and Inclusion certifies businesses owned by minorities, women and persons with disabilities. According to CEI’s certification page, it requires at least 51% ownership and at least 51% control by one or more of those groups, an owner who is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, and annual gross sales under $150 million. Certification is free, and certified firms are listed in CEI’s public online directory, so that buyers can look them up.

If a business is already certified by the Chicago Minority Supplier Development Council, it can apply through CEI’s FastTrack Certification with proof of that certification and a signed, notarized BEP affidavit.

How does a certified MBE count toward a goal?

On Illinois State contracts, the Business Enterprise for Minorities, Women, and Persons with Disabilities Act sets an aspirational goal in Section 4: not less than 30% of the dollar amount of State contracts to businesses owned by minorities, women and persons with disabilities. Of that, at least 16% goes to businesses owned by minorities, 10% to women-owned businesses and 4% to businesses owned by persons with disabilities. For State construction contracts the goal is 20%, split 11%, 7% and 2%.

Only spending with certified vendors that perform a commercially useful function counts, and the Act ties that phrase to the federal definition in 49 CFR 26.55(c): the firm must be responsible for the work of the contract and carry it out by performing, managing and supervising it. That means a firm that is only an extra participant, through which money passes to look like participation, doesn’t count.

A bidder on a State contract with a BEP goal attaches a utilization plan, which shows whether the bidder meets the goal by doing the work itself (if it is certified) or through certified subcontractors, and each certified subcontractor signs a participation agreement that goes in with the plan.

Hospitals, universities and companies with supplier diversity programs write their own rules for what they count, so ask the supplier diversity office which certifications it accepts before the bid goes out.

How can a general contractor use Pace on a public job?

We can take a certified share of a public job as a subcontractor that does the work with our people. Our installers are members of IBEW Local 134, and we take prevailing-wage and project labor agreement work with certified payroll. The work we can take on such jobs includes structured cabling and fiber, security systems, audio-visual rooms, Wi-Fi and networks, and devices.

For a utilization plan, a general contractor needs a participation agreement signed by us and our certificates, and we send our W-9, insurance certificate and MBE certificates the same day they are asked for.

Pace’s licenses and numbers lists the certifications with our other credentials. If you are a public body buying directly, How to buy from Pace and Can a city or school district buy IT without a bid? cover the contracts, and About Pace tells the rest of the company’s story.

Questions

Is Pace Systems a certified minority business?

Yes, Pace Systems is certified as a minority business enterprise through NMSDC by the Chicago Minority Supplier Development Council, renewed each year, and is certified by the Illinois Business Enterprise Program. We’ve been minority-owned since our founding in 1983.

Does BEP certification cost anything?

No, the Illinois Commission on Equity and Inclusion says BEP certification is free, and applications go through its certification and compliance portal.

What is the Illinois goal for minority-owned businesses on State contracts?

The goal is at least 16% of the dollar amount of State contracts, within an aspirational goal of 30% for businesses owned by minorities, women and persons with disabilities. On State construction contracts, the minority share is at least 11% within a goal of 20%.

Can a hospital or university count Pace toward its supplier diversity goal?

That depends on which certifications the program counts, so ask its supplier diversity office. Pace holds an NMSDC certificate and an Illinois BEP certificate, and we send our MBE certificates the same day they are asked for.

Microsoft ended support for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025, so a business or public body that still wants security updates for a Windows 10 PC now has to pay Microsoft for Extended Security Updates, or ESU, by the year. Year two began on October 14, 2026 at $122 a device for organizations, and a PC that joins now pays for year one as well, which comes to $183 in all.

Keep in mind that these are Microsoft’s prices, not Pace’s, and we’ve given them as Microsoft’s pages showed them on October 22, 2026.

What changed when Windows 10 support ended?

Windows 10 PCs still start and run, but since October 14, 2025 Microsoft no longer gives them technical support, feature updates or quality updates, and the quality updates are the ones that carry the security fixes. Microsoft says this on its ESU page for Windows 10.

ESU puts the critical and important security updates back for PCs on Windows 10 version 22H2, for up to three years. It brings no new features, no fixes that are not about security and no general technical support, which means it only keeps the security fixes coming while you replace the PC.

What does ESU cost in year two?

Microsoft sells ESU per device through Volume Licensing, and it lists the coverage years in its ESU lifecycle FAQ.

• Year one, October 14, 2025 to October 13, 2026: $61 a device.
• Year two, to October 12, 2027: $122 a device, because Microsoft’s price doubles each year.
• Year three, to October 10, 2028: $244 a device, by the same doubling.

ESU is sold by the year with a minimum of one license, and never for part of a year. Microsoft’s FAQ says a PC that joins in year two pays for year one too, because ESU years are cumulative, so 200 Windows 10 PCs joining now at the commercial price come to $36,600 for years one and two.

Schools pay much less, since Microsoft’s education price for K-12 and higher education is $1 a license for the first year, $2 for the second and $4 for the third (Microsoft gave those prices in April 2024).

Is ESU free anywhere?

Microsoft gives ESU at no additional cost to Windows 10 virtual machines in Windows 365, Azure Virtual Desktop and several other Azure services. A Windows 10 PC that connects to a Windows 365 Cloud PC is also entitled to ESU for up to three years, as long as the Windows 365 license is active, and both of these are on Microsoft’s ESU page.

Which Windows 10 PCs can move to Windows 11?

A PC can run Windows 11 if it meets Microsoft’s minimum hardware requirements:

• a compatible 64-bit processor of 1 GHz or faster, with two or more cores
• 4 GB of memory and 64 GB of storage
• UEFI firmware that is Secure Boot capable
• a Trusted Platform Module, TPM, version 2.0
• graphics compatible with DirectX 12, with a WDDM 2.0 driver
• a 720p display of 9 inches or more

A PC that meets them can upgrade in place from Windows 10 version 2004 or later, as long as the September 14, 2021 security update is installed. On Windows 10 Home and Pro, Microsoft’s PC Health Check app tells you whether one PC qualifies, and for a whole fleet, Microsoft’s Windows 11 planning guide points organizations to Endpoint analytics.

How do you plan the replacement so it is not one rushed purchase?

We recommend counting first: list every Windows 10 PC with its processor, memory, TPM version and age, and then sort the list into three groups.

1. PCs that meet the Windows 11 requirements, which you can upgrade in place.
2. PCs that fail the requirements and are due for replacement, which should be replaced first.
3. PCs that fail but must run another year, which go into ESU until you replace them in the next budget year.

The third group is the one to keep small, because a PC kept on ESU costs $122 for this year and $244 for the next, on top of the $61 for year one.

At Pace Systems we sell HP, Dell, Lenovo, Apple and Microsoft hardware and ship it anywhere in the US. If you want the replacements set up, our lab in Naperville images and asset-tags them and records each serial number in your equipment register in the Pace Hub, and around Chicago we deliver them on our trucks. We’ve imaged and tagged about 4,000 mini PCs on a single order, and replacements that do not need any setup ship straight from the vendor or the distributor.

We also handle returns with the maker for our customers and pass the manufacturer’s warranty through to you, and if we manage your computers, our managed IT service monitors and patches them.

Send us your list of Windows 10 PCs, or the count and the models you want, and ask for a quote. IT hardware from Pace and device deployment say more about what comes with the replacements, and for a large rollout, How to image and tag 1,500 laptops before school starts walks through each step.

Questions

Will Windows 10 PCs stop working?

No, they keep running, but since October 14, 2025 they don’t get security fixes from Microsoft unless they’re enrolled in ESU.

How much is Windows 10 ESU in year two?

For organizations it is $122 a device for year two, and a PC that joins now pays the $61 for year one as well. Microsoft’s education price is $2 a license for year two, after $1 for year one.

Can we buy ESU for six months?

No, because Microsoft sells it by the year only, for up to three years, and the third year ends on October 10, 2028.

How do we find out which PCs can run Windows 11?

Check every PC against Microsoft’s requirements (a compatible 64-bit processor, 4 GB of memory, 64 GB of storage, Secure Boot and TPM 2.0). Microsoft’s PC Health Check app checks one PC at a time, and Endpoint analytics checks a whole fleet.

On a Pitman schedule, also called 2-2-3, four squads work 12-hour shifts in a 14-day cycle of two days on, two off, three on, two off, two on and three off. Each officer works 7 shifts and 84 hours in every 14 days, which is an average of 42 hours a week, and because two squads cover the day shift and two the night shift, one squad is on duty for every shift of every day.

How does a Pitman rotation run, day by day?

Take the two day-shift squads, A and B, on a cycle that starts on a Monday, where B works on the days A is off and A works on the days B is off.

• Days 1 and 2, Monday and Tuesday: A works.
• Days 3 and 4, Wednesday and Thursday: B works.
• Days 5 to 7, Friday to Sunday: A works.
• Days 8 and 9, Monday and Tuesday: B works.
• Days 10 and 11, Wednesday and Thursday: A works.
• Days 12 to 14, Friday to Sunday: B works.

Squads C and D run the same pattern on nights, which means every squad works 7 shifts in the 14 days, never more than three in a row, and has Friday, Saturday and Sunday off every other weekend.

How many hours does each 12-hour rotation put in a pay period?

Pitman, 4 on 4 off and DuPont all average 42 hours a week on 12-hour shifts, and 24/48 averages 56, but they differ in how the hours fall in a 14-day pay period.

• Pitman, 2-2-3: 84 hours in every 14 days, and how the 84 split between the two weeks depends on the day the work week starts (60 and 24 with a Monday start, 36 and 48 with a Wednesday start).
• 4 on, 4 off: an 8-day cycle of four 12-hour shifts and four days off, again with four squads, so a 14-day pay period holds 6, 7 or 8 shifts (72, 84 or 96 hours) depending on where it falls in the cycle.
• DuPont: a 28-day cycle for four crews, each working 4 nights, then 3 off, 3 days, 1 off, 3 nights, 3 off, 4 days and 7 off, which comes to 14 shifts and 168 hours in 28 days, with 7 days off in a row once a cycle.
• 24/48: three platoons, A, B and C, each working a 24-hour shift and then off for 48 hours, so each firefighter averages 56 hours a week and a 14-day period holds 4 or 5 shifts (96 or 120 hours).

When does federal overtime law come into it?

Under section 7(k) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, police and fire departments may count overtime over a work period of 7 to 28 days instead of a week. The Department of Labor’s Fact Sheet #8 gives the federal thresholds for a 14-day work period: overtime is due after 86 hours for law enforcement and after 106 hours for fire protection.

That means a Pitman officer’s 84 hours sit 2 under the first number, while a 24/48 firefighter’s 120-hour fortnights sit 14 over the second. Which employees qualify, which work period your agency has adopted and what your labor contract pays are questions for your HR office and your attorney.

What happens to minimum staffing when one officer calls in sick?

Every shift has a minimum, which is the fewest people the agency will put on duty. Say day squad A has eight officers and the minimum for a day shift is six: one sick call leaves seven, a second leaves six, and a third leaves the shift short.

On a Pitman schedule, squad B is off on every day that A works, so B’s officers are the first people to ask for the open shift, and the same holds at night for C and D. What takes the time is asking them in seniority order and keeping count of who has worked how much overtime.

How does Pace Scheduler fill the open shift?

Pace Scheduler is the scheduling software we write and support at Pace Systems in Naperville. The agency sets its staffing levels, the counts update as the schedule changes and requests are approved, and a request for time off that would leave a shift short gets a warning before anyone approves it, according to its feature list.

When a shift does fall short, the supervisor posts it as overtime from the schedule and a Message Blast tells the department by email or text. The requests come back grouped in seniority order, each with the overtime hours that person has already worked and the date of their last overtime shift, and the supervisor approves one and rejects the rest.

Rich Evans of the Eagan Police Department in Minnesota wrote about the Message Blast on pacescheduler.com:

“No longer did a sergeant have to call 25 officers to fill a shift. They just sent a blast and checked back at a pre-determined deadline to approve the overtime request.”

Rotations only go in once, because the software takes an on/off pattern such as Pitman, assigns it to each person and fills in that person’s schedule for the whole year, with time off and assignments added. Assistant Fire Chief Corey M. Hojek of the Evergreen Park Fire Department in Illinois wrote:

“We manage over 100 people with complicated scheduling rules where we need to build a fresh schedule every month. I’m now able to auto-generate a schedule that manages seniority, max shifts, and minimum staffing that saves me personally over 15 hours a month.”

Police departments, sheriff’s offices, campus safety, dispatch, corrections and fire departments use Pace Scheduler across the US and Canada, and officers make their requests from its app on iPhone or Android. It’s part of the Pace Municipal Suite, which has more than 650 municipal clients and a 98% renewal rate. For a new agency, our team builds the site with the agency’s real data, as close as we can to the schedules it runs today, and then trains the administrators, the supervisors and everyone else, in that order.

If you’d like to see it, we give a free online demonstration: call Pace Scheduler at 630-359-8899 or ask on pacescheduler.com. Pace Scheduler, police, fire and dispatch scheduling describes the rest of what it does.

Questions

How many hours a week is a Pitman schedule?

It averages 42 hours a week, because each officer works seven 12-hour shifts, 84 hours, in every 14 days. How those hours split between the two weeks depends on the day the work week starts.

How many squads does a Pitman schedule need?

A Pitman schedule needs four squads, since two cover days and two cover nights, and each pair alternates so that one squad is on duty for every shift of every day.

What is the difference between Pitman and 4 on, 4 off?

Both use 12-hour shifts and four squads, and both average 42 hours a week. The difference is that Pitman runs a 14-day cycle and always puts 84 hours in a 14-day pay period, while 4 on, 4 off runs an 8-day cycle, so a 14-day pay period can hold 72, 84 or 96 hours.

Can Pace Scheduler run a Pitman rotation?

Yes, it builds rotations from on/off patterns, so a 2-2-3 pattern is assigned to each person once and fills that person’s schedule for the year, and minimum staffing, overtime and time-off requests then work against that schedule.

A managed IT agreement for a village should say who answers the phone and when, what is monitored and patched, which security tools run on each computer, how often a technician comes on site, how staff are trained and what costs extra, so that nobody has to guess later what the village is paying for. Managed IT from Pace Systems includes a help desk Monday to Friday in business hours and 24/7 for managed IT clients, monitoring and patching, endpoint protection from CrowdStrike and Huntress, email protection, vulnerability scans and a technician on site on set days around Chicago.

Who answers the phone, and when?

Put the hours in the agreement, in words, because those are the hours the village can hold its provider to. Our help desk answers Monday to Friday in business hours, and around the clock for our managed IT clients, and every request is logged as a ticket in ConnectWise from the first call to the fix, so there’s a record of what was asked, when, and what was done.

Ask any provider the same three things: the hours, where the tickets are kept, and who the village clerk calls at 9 o’clock on a Saturday night.

What should the provider watch and patch?

It should cover every computer and server in the agreement. We monitor and patch the devices we look after and run endpoint detection and response on them with CrowdStrike and Huntress, and we also protect email, run a network operations center and deliver our managed detection and response with ConnectWise.

Vulnerability scans check the village’s network-linked devices and applications for known weaknesses, and when we run them, we rank the findings by their effect on the village’s work and give you a plan to fix them.

The agreement should name the security tools and say how often the scans run, so that the village can hold the provider to both.

How often should a technician come on site?

Some work needs a person in the building, such as a new employee’s desk to set up, a switch to replace or a printer in the clerk’s office that won’t print. For villages around Chicago, one of our technicians comes on site on set days, and a village farther away gets the help desk, the monitoring and the patching remotely, anywhere in the US.

If the village needs a person for more hours than that, our IT staffing places technicians and engineers who work at Pace or at the village’s offices, tracked by the hour.

What does Illinois require of a village’s staff?

Since January 1, 2023, Illinois law, in 20 ILCS 1375/5-30, has required every employee of a county or municipality to complete a cybersecurity training program each year, and the training must cover, at least, detecting phishing scams, preventing spyware infections and identity theft, and preventing and responding to data breaches.

The state’s technology department, DoIT, makes a program available to every county and municipality, and a municipality may write one instead. Our cybersecurity service includes security training for staff on phishing emails and passwords, and whichever provider you choose, ask whether its training covers all four of the statute’s topics and who keeps the record of which employees finished it.

Who answers for the village’s security?

A village may want one named person to answer for its security without hiring one, and in that case our Director of Information Security can serve as the village’s part-time security officer, alongside the help desk. That way one person keeps the plan from the vulnerability scans moving after the first report.

What usually costs extra?

Ask what the agreement leaves out, and get the answer in writing. We recommend asking about three things in particular: new hardware, projects such as a server replacement or an office move, and work on devices or at hours the agreement does not cover. Our quotes say what is and is not included, so the village knows before it signs.

We sell the hardware too, from HP, Dell, Lenovo, Apple and Microsoft, and we can image and tag it in our Naperville lab before it reaches the village hall.

Send us the number of staff and computers, the buildings and the hours the village keeps, and ask for a managed IT quote. Managed IT from Pace has the details of the service, and cities, villages and counties lists what else we do for local government, from video surveillance to the Pace Municipal Suite of software.

Questions

What hours does Pace’s help desk work?

Our help desk answers Monday to Friday in business hours, and 24/7 for managed IT clients, and every request becomes a ticket in ConnectWise from the first call to the fix.

Can Pace look after a village or a business outside Illinois?

Yes, we can do it remotely, because we run managed IT for clients anywhere in the US. Our on-site visits are on set days around Chicago.

Which security tools does Pace use?

We run endpoint detection and response with CrowdStrike and Huntress, protect email and scan networks for vulnerabilities, and our managed detection and response is delivered with ConnectWise from our network operations center.

Does Illinois require cybersecurity training for village employees?

Yes, Illinois law, in 20 ILCS 1375/5-30, requires every county and municipal employee to complete a cybersecurity training program each year, covering phishing, spyware, identity theft and data breaches. The state offers a program, or a municipality may write one.

Start with the image and the purchase order rather than the delivery date, because those are the two dates the district controls. At Pace Systems we set up district rollouts of 1,300 to 1,600 laptops at a time in our lab in Naperville, which has more than 100 stations, and we can put more than 20 technicians in your schools in a day. How many weeks the whole job takes depends on three dates: the day your image is final, the day your purchase order goes out and the day the maker ships.

What happens to each laptop between the order and the classroom?

We take every laptop we set up through the same eight steps, in this order.

1. Ordered: Your quote names the contract the laptops are bought on, and once you order, the Pace Hub shows the order as Not shipped yet, then Coming to Pace.
2. Received: At our receiving desk, each serial number is recorded against your order, and the Hub changes to At Pace.
3. Imaged: Each laptop gets your image at one of the lab’s more than 100 stations.
4. Tagged: Your asset tag goes on it.
5. Tested: We test it at the station before it leaves the lab.
6. Registered: Its serial number goes into your equipment register in the Hub, so nobody in your district office has to type 1,500 serial numbers into a spreadsheet.
7. Held: The finished laptops wait in our warehouse, tagged to your order, until the schools are ready for them.
8. Delivered: Our trucks bring them to each school in the Chicago area, and our technicians can set them out where they go, while a district anywhere else in the United States gets them by carrier, set up and ready to use.

What sets the calendar for a summer rollout?

Three dates set it, and the district controls two of them.

The day the image is final. We load the image you give us, with your settings and your apps, and imaging can’t start until that image is final. That’s why we ask for the final version before the laptops reach our lab, and we recommend trying it on a few machines first.

The day the purchase order goes out. A district that buys on a cooperative contract such as TIPS or OMNIA Partners doesn’t have to run and award a bid first, so the purchase order can go out sooner. Can a city or school district buy IT without a bid? explains how that works in Illinois.

The day the maker ships. HP, Dell, Lenovo, Apple and Microsoft each set the ship date for their laptops, and until the laptops leave the manufacturer, the Hub shows the order as Not shipped yet. Once they are on the way, it shows Coming to Pace.

Count backward from the first day of school, because the laptops have to be imaged, tagged and delivered before teachers hand them out, and the image has to be ready before the laptops are.

Why hold the laptops at Pace until the schools are ready?

Our building at 2040 Corporate Lane has 40,000 square feet for the offices, the imaging lab, the warehouse and the loading dock. Each item in the warehouse is tagged to its order, and orders are staged on the shelves by order.

Your equipment register in the Hub lists what we’re holding for you, line by line, which means a school can take its laptops on the day its rooms are ready instead of on the day the maker ships.

What did Pace do for School District U-46?

School District U-46 in Elgin took its laptops in waves of 1,300 to 1,400. Each wave was staged in our warehouse in Naperville, where the laptops were asset-tagged, and then our own trucks delivered it to the schools.

We also assembled and installed about 1,600 Balance Box mobile display stands for the district, installed SMART Boards in about 110 rooms and provided technical staff, and the U-46 project page has the details.

Does every laptop have to go through Pace’s lab?

Not every laptop has to, because if your laptops need nothing done to them, we have them shipped from the vendor or the distributor straight to your schools, and the Hub tracks them the same way.

What should a district send Pace for a rollout quote?

Send us the count, the model and your image, and tell us which schools take how many. We quote the laptops and the setup together, on your contract, and the account manager for your area checks every line before it is quoted. Standard items are usually quoted the same business day.

Ask Pace for a rollout quote, or read how our device deployment works for laptops, desktops, tablets, carts and displays.

Questions

Can Pace image 1,500 laptops before school starts?

Yes, we set up district rollouts of 1,300 to 1,600 laptops at a time, at more than 100 stations in our Naperville lab, and we can put more than 20 technicians on site in a day. The final image, the purchase order and the manufacturer’s ship date set the calendar, so we recommend settling those three first.

Does Pace record each laptop’s serial number?

Yes, each serial number is recorded at our receiving desk against your order and goes into your equipment register in the Pace Hub, which is included with every account.

Can Pace deliver to each school and set the laptops out?

Yes, in the Chicago area we deliver on our trucks, and our technicians can install the devices where they go. A district elsewhere in the United States gets the laptops by carrier, set up and ready to use.

Does Pace assemble and install classroom display stands?

Yes, we assembled and installed about 1,600 Balance Box mobile display stands for School District U-46, and we also mount SMART and Promethean displays on Balance Box stands and install them in the rooms.

In Illinois, cameras and door access may be installed for others only by a licensed private alarm contractor or by people working for a licensed private alarm contractor agency. The reason is that Illinois law makes it unlawful to sell, install or service an alarm system for others without a license from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, IDFPR, and the law’s definition of an alarm system names video surveillance and electronic access control outright. Pace Systems holds Illinois Private Alarm Contractor Agency License No. 127001360, and it is the license we install under.

What counts as an alarm system under Illinois law?

The Private Detective, Private Alarm, Private Security, Fingerprint Vendor, and Locksmith Act of 2004 defines an alarm system in Section 5-10 as “any system, including an electronic access control system, a surveillance video system, a security video system, a burglar alarm system, a fire alarm system,” or any other electronic system that signals intrusion, entry, theft, fire, vandalism, escape or trespass. The same definition also takes in emergency communication and mass notification systems.

Because the definition is written this way, a camera system, a card-reader door and an intrusion alarm are all alarm systems in the eyes of the Act, and Section 10-5 makes it unlawful to act as a private alarm contractor, or to advertise as one, without the license.

The Act’s definition of a private alarm contractor covers anyone who “submits a bid to sell, install, design, monitor, maintain, test, inspect, alter, repair, replace, or service” those systems, which means a company needs the license to bid on the work, before it ever installs a camera.

Does an electrical license cover cameras and door access?

It doesn’t, because Section 20-5 exempts a licensed electrical contractor only for fire alarm work: one who services fire alarms on an emergency call, or who sells and installs “only fire alarm systems and not alarm or other security related electronic systems.” So if an electrical contractor installs cameras or door access for others, it needs the alarm contractor license as well.

We hold both: the Illinois alarm contractor agency license No. 127001360, and registrations for electrical work with the City of Chicago and with Cook County, and our installers are members of IBEW Local 134.

How do you check an installer’s license?

Look the company up on IDFPR’s License Look-Up, keeping in mind that in the professional regulation search, alarm contractors are filed under the license type Detective Board. Enter the company’s legal business name or its license number, and the result should read Licensed Private Alarm Contractor Agency, with the status Active.

As of October 22, 2026, our record reads PACE SYSTEMS INC, Naperville, license 127001360, Licensed Private Alarm Contractor Agency, Active, and we recommend checking the number of any installer the same way before you sign.

Why is the license number on an installer’s website?

It’s there because the Act requires it. Section 35-15 says no licensee may knowingly advertise its services without its license number in the advertisement, and the Act’s definition of an advertisement includes a website, which is why we print No. 127001360 in the footer of every page of our website.

If a camera installer’s website shows no license number, look the company up before you open its bid.

What else should a bid ask a security installer for?

A bid can ask for four things the Act already requires of a licensed agency, and if the installer is licensed, it should already have them.

• The licensee-in-charge: Section 20-15 makes a full-time Illinois licensed private alarm contractor, the licensee-in-charge, a condition of the agency license.
• Proof of insurance: Section 20-10 requires general liability insurance before a license is issued, and the license is cancelled if the insurance lapses.
• Registered technicians: Section 35-30 requires every employee of a licensed agency, other than exempt staff such as delivery drivers and reception, to apply for a permanent employee registration card, so ask that the technicians on your site hold one.
• Trained technicians: Section 20-20 requires 20 hours of basic training within 30 days of employment for an alarm agency’s employees.

For our part, we send our W-9, insurance certificate and MBE certificates the same day they are asked for.

What does Pace install under its license?

We’ve standardized on Genetec and Axis for video surveillance and door access, and we install HID, Aiphone and Allegion hardware. The work also includes intercoms and door stations, paging and mass notification, and intrusion alarms within larger jobs, and around Chicago our IBEW Local 134 crews run the cable and the power.

For the Village of Hoffman Estates, we installed video surveillance that includes a mobile camera trailer built to the village’s list of requirements. Public buyers can buy these systems from us on TIPS contract 260202, which Can a city or school district buy IT without a bid? explains.

Security systems from Pace has the brands and the kinds of work, and Pace’s licenses and numbers lists the license with the rest. If you would like a job priced, ask Pace for a quote.

Questions

Do you need a license to install security cameras in Illinois?

Yes, because the Act’s definition of an alarm system includes surveillance and security video systems, and selling, installing or servicing one for others takes a private alarm contractor license from IDFPR. A licensed electrical contractor is exempt only for fire alarm work.

How do I look up an Illinois alarm contractor license?

Search IDFPR’s License Look-Up under the license type Detective Board, by the company’s legal business name or license number, and the record should read Licensed Private Alarm Contractor Agency, with the status Active.

Is Pace licensed to install security systems in Illinois?

Yes, Pace Systems holds Illinois Private Alarm Contractor Agency License No. 127001360, and our installers are members of IBEW Local 134.

Does the license number have to appear in an installer’s advertising?

Yes, Section 35-15 of the Act requires a licensee’s license number in its advertising, and the Act counts a website as advertising.

Often it can, because an Illinois city, village or school district can buy on a cooperative contract that was competitively bid once for every member of the cooperative, instead of running a new bid. Pace Systems sells on TIPS contracts 230105 and 260202 and on OMNIA Partners contract 01-169, and Illinois public universities buy from us through IPHEC.

What Illinois law says about joint purchasing

The Governmental Joint Purchasing Act lets a governmental unit buy supplies and services jointly with other governmental units. The Act counts as a governmental unit any public authority with the power to tax and any other public entity created by statute, which takes in cities, villages, counties and school districts.

Section 2 sets the terms: a joint purchase must be made by competitive solicitation, and while a unit buys under the Act, the Act’s rules replace the purchasing rules in the other laws that unit works under. Section 4 adds that when a contract was awarded to several vendors, a unit may buy from the one whose contract best meets its needs.

A purchasing cooperative runs that competitive solicitation once, awards contracts to vendors and opens them to its members. TIPS, for instance, is the purchasing cooperative of Region 8 Education Service Center in Pittsburg, Texas, which awards every TIPS contract as the lead public agency.

School districts have one more rule to keep in mind. The School Code requires a public bid for supplies and work over $35,000, or a lower amount if the board’s policy sets one, and then lists exceptions, and item (vii) of Section 10-20.21 excepts “data processing equipment, software, or services and telecommunications and interconnect equipment, software, and services.” Cameras and door access are not in that item, but a district can still buy them from us on TIPS 260202.

Your purchasing office and your attorney decide how these statutes apply to you, so check with them before you rely on any of this.

Which contracts can a public body use to buy from Pace?

• TIPS 230105 covers technology products and services, for TIPS members.
• TIPS 260202 covers security systems, products and services, which we install around Chicago with crews from IBEW Local 134.
• OMNIA Partners contract 01-169 is held by Promark Technology, and OMNIA Partners lists it under computers and accessories and information technology services, so members buy from us through Promark on it.
• IPHEC, the Illinois Public Higher Education Cooperative, buys for the 13 public institutions of higher education in Illinois, and we sell computers, networking equipment and AV through it.

Every quote we send names the contract it is bought on, and the order in the Pace Hub names it too.

What does it cost to join TIPS or OMNIA Partners?

Joining costs a public body nothing, according to both programs. A TIPS membership flyer says membership is free, with no purchasing obligation or liability, and OMNIA Partners says on Promark’s contract page that “There are no membership fees, minimums, or procurement costs to use contracts.”

A public body joins once, on the cooperative’s website, and after that it can buy on any of that cooperative’s contracts from any vendor awarded on them.

How does a purchase on a cooperative contract work?

1. Join the cooperative, if your city, village or district isn’t a member yet.
2. Send us your list and name the contract. A spreadsheet, a PDF or a list of part numbers is enough, and quotes for standard items usually go out the same business day.
3. Check the quote before anyone signs: the vendor should be awarded on the contract, the items should fall within it (technology on 230105 and security systems on 260202), and the contract number should be on the quote.
4. Put the vendor’s W-9 and certificate of insurance in your file, and when you ask us for ours, we send our W-9, insurance certificate and MBE certificates the same day.
5. Issue your purchase order to us with the contract number on it, and we take purchasing cards and credit cards too, if you would rather pay that way.
6. Track the order in the Pace Hub as it moves from Not shipped yet to Coming to Pace, At Pace, Shipped and Delivered. Our trucks deliver it around Chicago, and a carrier takes it anywhere else in the United States.

When is a cooperative contract the wrong route?

It’s the wrong route when your rules or your funding require a bid, and in that case we answer public bids and requests for proposals from school districts, universities, municipalities and public agencies.

In schools, E-Rate is one such case, because Wi-Fi and switches bought with E-Rate discounts follow USAC’s competitive bidding rules: the district certifies an FCC Form 470 and waits at least 28 days before it closes the bidding and chooses a provider.

Send us your list and the contract you buy on, and the quote comes back with that contract’s number on it. Ask Pace for a quote, or read how to buy from Pace on TIPS, OMNIA Partners, IPHEC or a purchase order.

Questions

Is it free to join TIPS or OMNIA Partners?

Yes, TIPS and OMNIA Partners both say joining is free. TIPS’s membership flyer says membership is free with no purchasing obligation, and OMNIA Partners says there are no membership fees, minimums or procurement costs to use its contracts, and each program signs up members on its website.

Which TIPS contract covers security cameras and door access?

That’s TIPS 260202, Security Systems, Products and Services. We install cameras and door access around Chicago under Illinois Private Alarm Contractor Agency License No. 127001360, and Who may install cameras and door access in Illinois explains what that license covers.

Can an Illinois public university buy from Pace on IPHEC?

Yes, IPHEC buys for the 13 public institutions of higher education in Illinois, and we sell computers, networking equipment and AV through it, so the quote we send names IPHEC as the contract.

Does Pace answer public bids and RFPs?

Yes, we answer public bids and requests for proposals from school districts, universities, municipalities and public agencies, and our W-9, insurance certificate and MBE certificates go out the same day they are asked for.