The West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH) announced today that contracts were awarded for 17 paving projects across West Virginia. The contracts are from a bid letting conducted on Tuesday, March 14, 2023.West Virginia Paving Inc. was awarded a contract for $15.3 million to repair a section of Interstate 64 in Raleigh County from the Airport Road interchange to the Glade Creek Bridge. The nearly six-mile project is funded by Gov. Jim Justice’s Roads to Prosperity program.
The project will include a SAMI (Strain Alleviating Membrane Interlayer) seal as an interlayer to protect new asphalt. The SAMI layer will go on top of the concrete pavement. WVDOH crews pave on top of it.
Other paving contracts awarded included projects in the counties of Tucker, Fayette, Summers, Pocahontas, Wirt, Lewis, Mercer, Greenbrier, Wyoming, Pendleton, Monroe, Ohio, McDowell, Hardy, Webster, and Grant counties.
For a list of construction projects awarded by WVDOH from the March bid lettings, click here.
Several factors are considered before awarding a bid, including whether a bid falls above or below the WVDOH Engineer’s Estimate and by what percentage. In cases where a bid is above the Engineer’s Estimate, WVDOH must consider the project need, repercussions of not awarding the project, additional funding sources, and whether sufficient reasons exist for the differences in estimates. Most projects are reviewed, analyzed, and awarded within a week of the bid letting, but the process can take longer.
When the Division of Highways has a project that is determined to be best constructed by a contractor, it is processed through the bid letting system. A letting is a scheduled opportunity for contractors to review and bid on several construction projects at one time. Lettings are held either once or twice per month and conducted through the Bid Express System online at www.bidx.com and handled through the Contract Administration Division. Contractors need to subscribe to Bid Express before bids can be accepted on any project.
As the date and time approach the deadline of the letting, contractors are expected to place their bids, with complete documentation as necessary. Shortly after the letting, the respective bids are reviewed. All bids are evaluated thoroughly for competitiveness and deemed acceptable through guidelines as approved by policy, reviewed, and approved by the FHWA. Award of the contracts is made based on the recommendation by our Awards Committee based on the results of that evaluation and approval by the Commissioner. Projects are typically awarded to the lowest bidder with all proper documentation in place.