KYTC single-bid awards: March 2022
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) awarded 48 single-bid contracts totaling $54,259,375 during their March bid letting.
Forty-five of the single-bid awards were asphalt-related. Of those, the bids ranged between 81.3% - 107.6% of the cabinet engineer’s estimates.
KYTC rejected seven single-bid offers. Those unsuccessful bids ranged between 110.8% - 167.7% of the agency’s internal estimates.
In sum, the single-bid contracts awarded by KYTC in March exceeded their engineer’s estimates for the 48 projects by $505,893.
Here is an overview of last month’s asphalt-related single-bid awards by company:
Hinkle Contracting: Secured 10 single-bid awards totaling $7,237,950. Half of Hinkle’s bids exceeded the engineer’s estimates; half came in under. Their successful bids ranged between 82.1% - 106.6% of KYTC’s estimates.
Scotty’s Contracting: Was awarded 8 single-bid contracts totaling $20,198,811. Three of the company’s successful bids exceeded KYTC’s estimates; five came in under. In sum, Scotty’s contracts for the eight projects were $332,339 higher than the KYTC’s estimates.
Mountain Enterprises: Was the winner of 5 single-bid contracts totaling $1,493,373. One bid for 0.5 miles of “asphalt surfacing with grade & drain” on US 23 was awarded despite being 107.4% above the cabinet engineer’s estimate. Two of the company’s successful awards were lower than KYTC’s estimates.
L-M Asphalt Partners: Was awarded $7,795,738 for 4 single-bid asphalt-related projects. Two of the company’s successful single-bid awards were for projects in Fayette County.
In testimony last November before the General Assembly’s interim Transportation Committee, the Bluegrass Institute pointed out that economists have evaluated asphalt-related single-bid awards in the Lexington area for evidence of ‘tacit collusion’ within the industry. Their paper was published in the peer-reviewed Journal for Industrial Economics in 2020.
The Rogers Group: Was awarded 4 single-bid contracts last month. The company’s successful bids ranged between 90.1% - 100.9% of KYTC’s estimates for those projects.
The Allen Company: Was the winner of 3 single-bid awards, including a $1.28 million contract for 8.4 miles of asphalt resurfacing on KY 30 in Jackson County. That bid exceeded KYTC’s estimate by $72,270.
Mago Construction: Secured 3 single-bid contracts in March that added up to $2,598,836. In sum, their bids came in $13,877 below KYTC’s estimates for the three projects.
Jim Smith Contracting: Was awarded 2 single-bid contracts. One bid — for 5.2 miles of asphalt resurfacing in Marshall County — came in $179,538 under the engineer’s estimate for the project.
The following road contractors each secured one single-bid asphalt-related contract in March: Gaddie-Shamrock ($1,436,128), Haydon Materials ($490,828), Kay & Kay Contracting ($593,821), Murray Paving ($110,476), Walker Construction ($1,898,213) and Yager Materials ($1,085,322).
Gaddie-Shamrock, Haydon Materials and Walker Construction’s bids exceeded KYTC’s estimates. Kay & Kay, Yager Materials and Murray Paving’s awards were based on bids below the cabinet engineer’s estimates.
— — — — — — —
NOTE: Extensive efforts are made to ensure the data from KYTC’s publicly available information are accurately entered into this spreadsheet. I welcome feedback from the cabinet, the industry or anyone else if there are mistakes. I can be contacted at amcneill@freedomkentucky.com.