BIPPS Analysis: Kentucky Transportation Cabinet shows progress on single-bid road contracts

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) rejected twelve single-bid offers put forth by the highway industry during the September construction letting. The rejected bids totaled $3.86 million and would have exceeded the state engineer's estimates by $406,126.

While the progress is positive, KYTC also awarded five single-bid contracts with bids that exceeded the cabinet engineer's estimates. Those awards totaled $2.08 million and added up to $90,471 in excess of KYTC's internal project cost projections.

Nine single bid contracts were awarded in September with bids that were lower than the engineer's estimates. Those single-bid awards totaled $15.37 million.

Mountain Enterprises was awarded three single-bid contracts worth $1,077,119. KYTC also rejected three of Mountain Enterprise's single-bid proposals totaling $1.33 million.

Hinkle Contracting submitted five single-bid proposals, each exceeding the state engineer's estimates. All five of the single bids by Hinkle Contracting were rejected.

Three single-bid contracts totaling $10.16 million were awarded to Scotty's Contracting & Stone from the September bid letting. However, all of Scotty's single-bid awards were based upon bids below the cabinet engineer's estimates.

The Bluegrass Institute first raised questions about KYTC's single-bid awards in a July letter to the Interim State & Local Government Committee.

A complete list of the September single-bid outcomes can be found at this link.