SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois has awarded a more than $4 billion prison medical care contract to the same company it’s used for three decades, despite multimillion-dollar lawsuits against the firm and statewide complaints alleging substandard care.

Pittsburgh-based Wexford Health Sources was one of two companies responding to a request for proposals from the Illinois Department of Corrections, but it was not the low bidder. Wexford’s offer came in $673 million higher than one from VitalCore Health Strategies of Topeka, Kansas, according to a procurement announcement reviewed Friday by The Associated Press.

Wexford’s last 10-year contract expired in 2021 but has been extended since then.

Southern Illinois University School of Medicine began a pilot program in 2020 to provide health care in two prisons and officials said they were eager to see it play out with an eye toward expansion. An SIU spokesperson was unavailable Friday.