Drivetime Mahatma

Computer, not swami, opens bids

Dear Mahatma: In the newspaper, the Arkansas Department of Transportation is always "opening low bids" on projects worth a gazillion shekels. This amazes me. Do they have a staff swami who holds the bids to his head and declares "This is the one?" How does the Mahatma feel about having a swami working his town? -- Impressed

Dear Impressed: The Mahatma believes in the United States Constitution, which says no religious test shall be imposed for public service. So if the Highway Department has a swami, we're cool with that.

Bid openings or lettings happen several times a year. The agency will average between 20 and 30 construction projects each time. Bids on any project may range from a few up to a dozen, agency gurus said.

All bids are submitted electronically, a relatively recent practice. Contractors previously had to mail in their bids or deliver them to the Highway Department's headquarters. On bid-letting day, in front of a crowd of contractors, those bids were opened and publicly read.

In November 2010, contractors were given the option of submitting bids electronically using a service called Bid Express. With the January 2015 letting, electronic bidding became mandatory.

Contractors may submit bids as often as they want until the deadline if they seek to make changes. They can also withdraw their bids. Once the deadline has passed, the submitted bids begin to automatically download at the Highway Department, after which staff members pull the bids into a report to post on the department's website.

Best as we can tell, there is no swami like Carnac the Magnificent. Unfortunately.

Dear Mahatma: I have recently seen a sheriff's vehicle and a postal service van driving around in the rain with wipers going and no lights. Are they exempt from the law? When it's raining, those vehicles are hard to see. -- Sherwood

Dear Sherwood: Exempt from the state law that requires lights on when wipers are in operation? Surely not for the sheriff's vehicle. As for the postal service van, maybe there's some constitutional separation of powers thing going on. Nah.

Let's remind everyone, again, of the importance of turning on lights when wipers are going.

Dear Mahatma: Could you define "acceleration lane" and explain its purpose? Some folks don't know. -- Sharon

Dear Sharon: An acceleration, or merge, lane provides traffic entering a highway to get up to the speed before merging into that traffic.

It has come to our attention that the use here of "fixing to" has caused consternation for some readers who expect a higher literary level. As if.

Two things.

First, colloquialisms are devoutly to be desired.

Second, this column ain't no scientific rocket.

Vanity plate on a 1950s-era Chevy: BIGRAT

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Metro on 03/10/2018

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