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
Laws
Regulations
- 23 CFR 635.114 Award of contract and concurrence in award (04/01/2013) Provides the FHWA's regulatory policy regarding the advertising for bids for 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).
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.
- Procurement of Federal-aid Construction Projects (06/26/2008)
- Rejection of Unbalanced Bids (07/29/1987)
- Tennessee Special Provision (SP) Regarding Unbalanced Bids (07/10/1986)
- Bidding Procedures -- Negotiations with Bidders (06/23/1986)
- Deviation from Competitive Bidding Requirements (04/30/1985)
Guidance
General Information
- FHWA Contract Administration Core Curriculum Manual
- Guidelines on Preparing Engineer's Estimate, Bid Reviews and Evaluation (01/20/2004) Replaces FHWA Technical Advisories TA 5080.4 and TA 5080.6
- Legal and Economic Aspects Of Competitive Market Behavior (.doc, 0.2 mb) Virginia Transportation Research Council
- Transportation Estimators Association (see "documents" for references for the engineer's estimate)
Training
Archive
- Bid Analysis and Unbalanced Bids (12/01/1988)
- Bid Analysis and Unbalanced Bids (05/16/1988)
- Review of Tabulation of Bid on Texas Project F-270, Medina County (05/28/1986)
- Bid Prices (10/25/1957)