Construction Program Guide

Bid Analysis and Award of Contract

The FHWA's policies for bid analysis and award of construction contracts require the construction bids to be reviewed to determine:

• the degree of competition
• reasonableness of the low bid in comparison with the engineer's estimate
• the presence of mathematical or material unbalancing
• the presence of evidence regarding bid rigging

Authority/Legal Basis

1. Laws

   • Title 23 U.S.C. 112 provides the FHWA's statutory requirements for competitive bidding for construction contracts.

2. Regulations

   • Title 23 C.F.R. 635.114 provides the FHWA's regulatory policy regarding bid analysis and award of construction contracts. (Note: this regulation was last updated on August 2, 1991 and does not include revised stewardship, oversight, and applicability requirements resulting from the 1991 ISTEA and the 1998 TEA-21. See the discussion in the FHWA Contract Administration Core Curriculum Manual for current FHWA policy).

3. Orders

   • None

4. Policy

   • The FHWA Contract Administration Core Curriculum Manual summarizes the FHWA's policies and provides general guidance for bid analysis and the award of contract.

5. Policy Memorandums

   • Headquarters Memorandum dated June 26, 2008; Subject: Procurement of Federal-aid Construction Projects
   • Headquarters memorandum dated May 16, 1988; Subject: Bid Analysis and Unbalanced Bids provides specific guidance for the determination of mathematically and materially unbalanced bids.

Guidance

1. General Information

   • FHWA Contract Administration Core Curriculum Manual
   • Guidelines on Preparing Engineer's Estimate, Bid Reviews and Evaluation - (Replaces FHWA Technical Advisories TA T 5080.4 and 5080.6)
   • Virginia Transportation Research Council- Legal and Economic Aspects Of Competitive Market Behavior (.doc, 200 kb.)
   • Transportation Estimators Association (see "documents" for references for the engineer's estimate)

2. Training

   • FHWA Contract Administration Core Curriculum (Course Description)