The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department on Monday formally rejected the two bids that were submitted for a project to improve the Interstate 30/Interstate 430 interchange.
The bids, including the apparent low bid, were too high based on the engineer's estimates of the project cost, said Randy Ort, a department spokesman. The department won't say what its projected cost for the project is. Both bids were opened Wednesday, along with the bids on 51 other projects.
Officials will continue to review the bids and the specifications on which the bids were based in an effort to determine whether there was an issue in material quantities or other specifications, Ort said.
It isn't unusual for the agency to reject bids, make adjustments and seek additional bids. They aren't final until state highway officials review them.
"We write [the specifications] and think we're clear," Ort said. "Maybe we weren't clear. We're anxious to see what we need to do to get this project underway."
The project held additional interest because the department had made arrangements to finance the project under a state law that allows agencies to borrow money from the state if, as anticipated, federal aid is uncertain.
"It's disappointing," Ort said. "We did get the loan. It's an important project, just as all our projects are, but this is one where we had lined up a loan."
The federal Highway Trust Fund is projected to run out of money before summer's end, and Congress hasn't indicated it will replenish the trust fund before then. To avoid funding uncertainty, the Highway Department for the first time borrowed money from the state's budget stabilization trust fund to cover 80 percent of the cost of the project, which is the federal share.
Ark. Code 19-5-501(b)(8) allows for temporary loans to be made from the state's budget stabilization trust fund to cover "delays by the federal government forwarding moneys or problems created by the federal fiscal year conversions."
The loan will allow the department to pay the contractor for the work in a timely manner even if federal officials pare back their level of reimbursement to stretch out the trust fund's remaining dollars. The trust fund is principally funded with federal fuel-tax receipts, but it has been taking in less than it pays out, requiring Congress periodically to cover the difference.
The apparent low bid on the I-30/I-430 interchange project was submitted by Kiewit Infrastructure South Co. of Fort Worth.
Its bid for the project at $43.7 million was higher than the only other bid submitted, $37.6 million by McGeorge Contracting Co. Inc. of Pine Bluff. However, Kiewit said it could do the project in 366 days, or 51 fewer days than McGeorge.
Tens of thousands of motorists use the interchange daily, and factors such as the project's burden on commuters are considered when reviewing bids on projects in which traffic volumes are a factor.
The project involves the construction of new interchange ramps, widening of the I-30 frontage road and adding a third lane on I-430 between Stagecoach Road and the interchange, all of which will accommodate growth in the area due, in part, to the recent opening of a Bass Pro Shops location.
An email to a media relations representative of Kiewit Infrastructure South was not returned Monday. A representative from Arkansas Associated General Contractors, which represents the highway construction industry, also didn't return an email. He was in Washington, D.C., on Monday.
Metro on 06/10/2014