KYTC awarded $588.2 million in single-bid asphalt contracts in ‘23

The following correspondence was sent to the Kentucky House and Senate Transportation Committees today:

Transportation Committee Members - We’ve compiled KYTC's 2023 single-bid asphalt-related contracts. The attached document provides KYTC's single-bid awards by month.

Here are five topline points from the spreadsheet:

• KYTC awarded $588.2 million in asphalt-related single-bid contracts in 2023.

• The lack of competition for those contracts cost taxpayers $75.3 million more than if a second-bidder participated.

• One contractor, L-M Asphalt Partners, secured $84.9 million in single-bid awards in October 2023 for major projects in Fayette County. (New Circle Rd. & Newtown Pike). L-M has had an effective monopoly in Kentucky's second-largest county for decades.

• KYTC awarded $131.9 million in single-bid asphalt-related contracts in October '23, including a $40.1 million contract in Pike County to Mountain Enterprises.

• In May, KYTC gave Scotty's Contracting a $64.5 million award for an I-65 project in Hardin/Bullitt. If KYTC had required a second bidder for this project, the state could have saved $14.5 million.

This latest year of single-bids strengthens my belief that Kentucky taxpayers deserve a full audit of KYTC's bidding practices. #AuditKYTC

As I've done in the past, I welcome any feedback from KYTC or the industry if they identify any errors in the data. If I have made errors, I will be happy to make corrections.

Please let me know if you have any questions about the information in this correspondence.

--

Andrew McNeill

President & Senior Policy Fellow

KY Forum for Rights, Economics & Education