KYTC awarded $14.3 million in single-bid contracts in November

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet awarded $14,342,181.40 in single bid contracts that exceeded the cabinet engineer’s estimates as part of their November 20 bid cycle. Only one single bid was rejected by KYTC last month.

L-M Asphalt Partners was the biggest winner, securing a $10,474,017.70 single bid contract. That award was $613,633.64 in excess of the cabinet’s internal estimate. The asphalt pavement rehab project covers 11 miles of I-75 in Whitley County.

Hinkle Contracting was awarded 4 single bid contracts in November, totaling $1,123,883.17. Hinkle submitted five single bids in October but all 5 were rejected. Hinkle attempted to secure a fifth single bid award in November but it was rejected by KYTC - the only one rejected last month.

Mountain Enterprises, one of the largest beneficiaries of single bid awards in our initial evaluation of the bidding practices at KYTC, secured 3 contracts without any competition. Mountain’s single bid awards last month added up to $1,256,123.60.

Scotty’s Contracting and Stone was given a single bid award for an I-65 asphalt rehab project in Warren County. That bid, however, came in under the engineer’s estimate by $1.4 million.

In total, the single contracts awarded by the cabinet exceeded their own internal estimates by $777,795.

KYTC has lobbied the General Assembly for a higher gas tax on Kentuckians for several years. Kentucky Transportation Secretary Jim Gray recently said, “Revenue is going down, and cost is going up.”

Lawmakers are aware of the immense struggle facing families during this pandemic. Now is not the time to divert more from their constituent’s wallets to a bureaucracy seemingly incapable of efficiently using the current resources at their disposal. The better step is a full and complete audit of KYTC and their bidding practices.

The document containing KYTC’s single-bid awards in November is available at this link.