I-20 Vicksburg resurfacing bid 40% over MDOT's estimate as six October calls draw one bidder

The Mississippi Department of Transportation's October letting produced one result well outside the department's numbers. Call 04, a mill and overlay of about 5.8 miles of I-20 from the Mississippi River bridge to 0.65 miles east of the MS 27/US 61 overpass in Warren County, with repairs to the bridges over Old Highway 27 and the KCS railroad (bridge Nos. 4.5A and 4.5B), drew three bids, all above the state estimate.

• Hemphill Construction Company, Florence: $41,811,513.00
• Key, LLC, Madison: $42,657,141.40
• Century Construction Group, Tupelo: $45,917,659.66

The state estimate was $29,777,062.83, so the low bid was 40.42% over. MDOT's estimate memo for the letting, dated Oct. 1, had put the call in the $25 million to $30 million range. All three bids were at least $12 million above the estimate. The notice allows 416 working days, the longest fixed term in the letting.

Over-estimate results across the letting

Ten of the 15 calls came in over the state estimate. Besides I-20, the gaps were:

• Call 02, / 106971301 Simpson: 7.54% over (Chris Albritton Construction Company, Inc., 1 bid)
• Call 05, / 108168302 Madison: 4.78% over (T. L. Wallace Construction, Inc., 3 bids)
• Call 06, / 110083301 & IM-0055-: 9.96% over (Lehman-Roberts Company, 1 bid)
• Call 07, / 108588301 Pearl River: 8.50% over (Huey P Stockstill, LLC, 1 bid)
• Call 08, / 110078301 Lamar & Forrest: 8.68% over (Warren Paving, Inc., 1 bid)
• Call 10, / 110081301 Lauderdale: 9.66% over (APAC-Mississippi, 1 bid)
• Call 11, / 108999301 Pike: 3.29% over (Dickerson & Bowen, Inc., 3 bids)
• Call 12, / 110041301 Attala: 9.06% over (Talbot Brothers Contracting Co., Inc., 4 bids)
• Call 15, / 110208301 Alcorn: 2.16% over (Riverside Traffic Systems, Inc., 2 bids)

Calls that came in under were the I-22 overlay in Marshall County, the US 84 slide repair in Franklin County, the I-59 work in Jasper and Clarke counties, and the two audible-stripe safety jobs in Itawamba, Lee and Pontotoc counties.

One bidder, six times

Six calls had a single bidder:

• Call 02, Simpson County bridge replacements on SR 28: Chris Albritton Construction, 7.54% over
• Call 06, I-55 mill and overlay, lighting and fog seal in Grenada, Carroll and Montgomery counties: Lehman-Roberts, 9.96% over
• Call 07, I-59 mill and overlay in Pearl River County: Huey P. Stockstill, 8.5% over
• Call 08, I-59 fog seal and OGFC replacement in Lamar and Forrest counties: Warren Paving, 8.68% over
• Call 10, I-59 OGFC lift and fog seal in Lauderdale County: APAC-Mississippi, 9.66% over
• Call 14, audible stripe and markers on MS 336 in Pontotoc County: Riverside Traffic Systems, 8.04% under

Five of the six single-bid calls came in over estimate, by 7.5% to 10%. Across the letting, MDOT received 33 bids on 15 calls, an average of 2.2. Calls with three or more bidders included the I-22 overlay, the US 84 slide repair, I-20, I-55 in Madison County, the MS 48 overlay in Pike County and the MS 19 bridge repair in Attala County.

What it means for bidders

For primes, the one-bid calls show where competition was thin. Four of the six were interstate resurfacing or preservation calls, three of them on I-59; the others were the Simpson County bridge replacements and a small safety job in Pontotoc County. For subcontractors and suppliers, the results identify which primes are winning which kind of work. Riverside Traffic Systems of New Albany, for example, was low on all three audible-stripe calls, and Lehman-Roberts of Memphis was low on both its interstate calls.

Results are unofficial until MDOT awards. MDOT's notice says each proposal must carry a bid bond, cashier's check or certified check for 5% of the bid, and it reserves the right to reject irregular proposals under Subsection 102.07.

Warren County is in MDOT District 3, based in Yazoo City. See our Warren County hub, the bids page and our guide to bidding MDOT contracts.