The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) awarded 18 single-bid contracts (exceeding their engineer’s estimates) to Kentucky’s road contractors during the November and December bid lettings. Those end of the year single-bid awards totaled $35,052,895 — costing taxpayers $1,605,405 above the estimated costs for those projects.

A back of the envelope calculation indicates KYTC awarded 169 single-bid contracts (exceeding their engineer’s estimates) totaling $208,911,449 to Kentucky’s road contractors in 2021. Those awards exceeded the Cabinet’s internal estimates by $9,437,344.

Among the single-bid contracts awarded in November:

• L-M Asphalt Partners secured both single-bid awards in Fayette County, including a $7.6 million asphalt rehabilitation project for the I-75/I-64 split. L-M’s bid was $521,549 over the engineer’s estimate. By our calculation, L-M has won 17 of 21 single-bid contracts since 2019 in Kentucky’s second largest county.

• Hinkle Contracting was awarded a $414,467 single-bid contract for a 1.2 mile asphalt resurfacing project in downtown Paris. Their bid was $22,039 over KYTC’s estimate. By our calculation, Hinkle has been awarded 7 of 7 single-bid contracts since 2019 in Bourbon County.

• Nally & Gibson won a single-bid contract for “various routes in Scott County” with a $239,323 bid that came in $1,341.36 under the cabinet’s estimate. By our calculation, Nally has won 10 of 11 single-bid contracts since 2019 in Scott County.

Reviewing the single-bid awards from December:

• Scotty’s Contracting & Stone secured two single-bid contracts totaling $19,849,970. The company’s bid for 5.7 miles of asphalt paving and roadway rehab in Barren County came in $192,970 over KYTC’s estimate while their bid to address 13.7 miles of “pavement deficiencies” in Simpson County was $111,970 under that project’s estimated cost.

• KYTC rejected two single-bid offers from The Allen Company for projects in Madison County. The Allen Company won a $1.3 million single-bid contract in Lincoln County with a bid that exceeded the cabinet’s estimate by $107,887.

• Hinkle Contracting was awarded a $7.2 million single-bid contract for 9.8 miles of asphalt rehab on the Mountain Parkway in Wolfe County. Their winning bid was $270,089 over KYTC’s internal estimate.

Other road contractors who won single-bid contracts (exceeding the Cabinet’s estimates) during the final two months of the year were: Mountain Enterprises, Haydon Materials, Mago Construction, George B Stone Company and Bluegrass Contracting Corporation.

A complete list of the single-bid awards that closed out 2021 can be found at these links: 11/19/21 and 12/10/21.

In November, the Bluegrass Institute testified in front of the General Assembly’s interim Transportation Committee about the questions surrounding the single-bid relationship between KYTC and the state’s highway industry. In December, the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting (KCIR) published a wide-ranging story on that relationship.

The Transportation Cabinet refused to answer questions from KCIR’s investigative reporters for the piece. Summit Materials, the parent company of Hinkle Contracting — the biggest beneficiary of KYTC’s single-bid awards over the past three years — also denied a request to be interviewed.

Here is a link to the audio of KCIR’s investigation.

Comments about the investigation from BIPPS Visiting Policy Fellow Andrew McNeill can be found at this link.

— — — — — —

Single-bid projects (exceeding KYTC’s internal estimates) were awarded in the following Kentucky counties in 2021: Anderson, Barren, Bath/Rowan, Bell, Breathitt, Breckinridge, Bourbon, Boyle, Boyd, Carter, Caldwell, Calloway, Casey, Christian, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Cumberland, Estill, Fayette, Floyd, Franklin, Garrard, Graves, Greenup, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Jessamine, Johnson, Knott, Knox, Laurel, Lawrence, Lee, Leslie, Letcher, Lincoln, Logan, Lyon, Madison, Marion, Marshall, McCracken, McCreary, Metcalfe, Menifee, Mercer, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Ohio, Owsley, Perry, Pike, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Russell, Scott, Taylor, Trigg, Washington, Wayne, Whitley, Wolfe.