Bids worth $71.9 million on seven highway and bridge projects from the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department's bid-letting last week have been rejected.
They were among bids on 35 projects totaling $242.5 million that were opened Oct. 13. The rejected bids included projects on Interstate 430 at the Interstate 30 interchange and the Cantrell Road interchange in Little Rock.
Six of the seven projects on which bids were rejected had only one bidder; the seventh had two bidders. A total of nine projects attracted only one bid.
Also, six of the seven rejected bids were for projects that factor into the contract not only the cost of the construction but also how long the work will take to complete. A total of 13 projects included that formula as part of the bids.
Two projects received no bids at all.
It may have been a case of too many projects offered at once, officials said.
"We did have a lot of [project] jobs go this time," department spokesman Danny Straessle said Wednesday. "Maybe the market was saturated."
The department announced in September that several projects that had been pulled from bid-lettings earlier in the year would be added to the October bid-letting. Agency officials are considering adding 11 more to the December bid-letting.
Twenty-six projects were among 87 worth an estimated $411 million that the department pulled because of uncertainty surrounding federal road construction funding.
Earlier this year, Congress approved a short-term federal funding extension, which state Highway Department officials credited for reinstating the stalled projects. The extension expires Oct. 29. It includes an $8.1 billion transfer of general revenue to the federal Highway Trust Fund.
Even without additional action by Congress, payments to state transportation departments from the Federal Highway Administration are projected to continue until next spring, according to the department.
Concern about the dearth of bids and about bids coming in too high was expressed at a meeting of the Arkansas Highway Commission the day after the bids were opened Oct. 13. The department uses engineer estimates, which it won't disclose for competitive reasons, to help determine the value of the projects.
The commission's concern was similar to that expressed in September by members of the Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission after one major project drew two bidders and another one drew just one. Commissioners worried that the lack of competition would increase the projects' costs.
In both cases, the staff at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field deemed the bids acceptable and recommended that contracts be awarded. The commission accepted the staff recommendations.
Mark Haines, board chairman of the Arkansas Asphalt Pavement Association, said the lingering impact from the economic downturn that began in 2008 is a factor in the lack of bids on the projects.
He is a senior engineer for Koss Construction Co. of Topeka, Kan. That company concentrates its work in the Midwest, including in Arkansas.
At the Oct. 13 bid-letting, Koss Construction was awarded a $22.2 million contract to rehabilitate pavement on a 28-mile section of Interstate 49 in Crawford and Washington counties. One other company submitted a bid.
Within the industry, it is increasingly common for a project to attract only one or two bidders, Haines said Wednesday.
"It's a trend we're seeing nationally," he said. "There are fewer and fewer bidders out there.
"There's been a downturn the last few years. There's a downturn of opportunity. [As a result], people are getting out of the business. Contractors don't feel they have the expertise or capacity to handle some of these jobs."
For one of the two projects on I-430, it was the second time that department officials had rejected the bids.
In June 2014, the department rejected two bids on a project for the I-430/I-30 interchange.
At that time, the project involved 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 would accommodate growth in the area. That growth is due, in part, to the opening of the Bass Pro Shops store and The Outlets of Little Rock.
The two bids submitted for the project were for $43.7 million and $37.6 million. The higher bidder would have completed the project in 366 days, 51 fewer days than the lower bidder.
Tens of thousands of motorists use the interchange daily, and the burden on commuters is taken into account when reviewing bids for projects.
The Highway Department eventually split the project into two parts. The first part consisted of adding a southbound off-ramp from I-430 feeding into the I-30 frontage road. A $13.4 million contract was awarded for that project in December 2014, and the off-ramp has since opened.
Bids for the work on the second phase -- which consists of widening the frontage road and adding a westbound exit on I-30 east of the interchange and a ramp from I-30 west to I-430 north -- were among those rejected this week.
Just two bids were submitted. The lowest was for $21.7 million.
The department also rejected the single bid of $9.4 million for a project that would add a northbound on-ramp from Cantrell Road to I-430.
Also rejected were lone bids for two projects in Fayetteville.
One project was for the widening of a section of Arkansas 112, which is on Maple Street between Razorback Road and Garland Avenue on the campus of the University of Arkansas. The bid received was $4.2 million.
The other project involved a bridge on Arkansas 16 over the Middle Fork of the White River. That bid was $8.3 million.
Another Northwest Arkansas project for which a single bid of $15.7 million was rejected was in Benton County. It involved work on Arkansas 265 between Arkansas 264 and Pleasant Grove Road.
Another bid rejected was for a project in Conway. That project was for construction of two traffic circles, widening of Dave Ward Drive for a half mile, and relocation and widening of the ramps of the Interstate 40 interchange at U.S. 65B. The $9.7 million bid was the only one submitted for that project.
Metro on 10/22/2015