KYTC awarded $9.3 million in single bid contracts in January

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) kicked off the 2021 highway construction year by awarding $9,331,752 in single bid awards during the January bid letting to Kentucky’s highway industry. Of the 18 single bid awards, sixteen exceeded the cabinet’s engineer’s estimate. KYTC also rejected 5 single bid attempts by the state’s road contractors.

Hinkle Contracting was the big winner in January’s single bid game. Hinkle secured nine single bids, totaling $3,781,203. Their combined bids exceeded the engineer’s estimates by $221,315.

Mountain Enterprises was awarded three single bid projects from the latest bid letting. Those awards totaled $1,394,878 and exceeded the cabinet’s internal estimates by an average of 4.8%.

The Allen Company secured the largest single bid award with a $1,547,038 project in Madison County. That bid exceeded the engineer’s estimate by $111,019.31. The Allen Co. won a second single bid contract with a $581,562 offer for a US 150 project in Boyle County, bringing their single bid haul for the month to $2,128,600.

Mago Construction won two single bid opportunities. One of those, however, came in under the cabinet’s estimate. Mago’s other single bid contract was a $521,134 offer for a KY 200 project in Wayne County.

We reiterate a point we made in December’s post:

There is no satisfactory explanation for why the cabinet continues to reward Kentucky’s highway industry with single bid awards. It does so while also lobbying the legislature to raise the gas tax on working families.

The General Assembly is interested in increasing investment in Kentucky’s infrastructure. Maximizing the effectiveness of the current resources currently managed by the Cabinet is the place to start. The legislature should begin that effort with a special examination of KYTC’s bidding practices by the State Auditor’s office in 2021.

This link provides a complete list of single bid offers and awards from January.