How to bid FDOT construction contracts: prequalification, finding lettings, bidding and reading the results

The Florida Department of Transportation is the biggest single buyer of heavy civil construction in the state. Its Central Office and district offices let road, bridge and related contracts all year, and every proposal, addendum and result is posted publicly. This guide covers how to get qualified, where to find work, how bids are submitted and how to use the results.

Do you need to prequalify?

Section 337.14 of the Florida Statutes, together with FDOT's Rule 14-22 of the Florida Administrative Code, requires prequalification to bid any road, bridge or public transportation construction contract over $250,000. FDOT's prequalification page lists cases where you do not need it:

• Bidding as a prime on projects of $250,000 or less.
• Bidding as a subcontractor in any amount.
• Maintenance contracts. Section 337.14 says it does not apply to them, though FDOT sets separate qualification rules for some maintenance work.

Subcontractors don't need FDOT prequalification. They do need to meet the prime's requirements for licensing, insurance, safety and, where it applies, DBE certification.

How prequalification works

Primes apply through FDOT's online Contractor Prequalification Application System (CPQ). The annual review sets two things:

• Your approved work classes, such as grading, drainage, flexible paving, bridges or signals.
• Your maximum capacity rating: the total dollar value of FDOT work you may have under contract.

FDOT then issues a certificate of qualification listing those work classes. The statute sets the key requirements:

• Financial statements. They must be audited and certified by a licensed CPA under generally accepted accounting and auditing standards, prepared within the preceding 12 months, and for the applying contractor itself. FDOT may not use a parent company's financials.
• Stale statements. If the annual statement is more than four months old when FDOT receives the application, you must also submit interim audited statements.
• Reviewed statements for smaller bidders. A contractor that bids only on contracts with budget estimates under $2 million may submit reviewed (not audited) annual or interim statements.
• Validity. A certificate is good for up to 18 months after the date of the financial statement it was based on.
• Timing. FDOT must act within 30 days after it determines an application is complete.

Before FDOT will issue a certificate, you must have an active registration with the Florida Department of State at sunbiz.org (renewed every year) and a MyFloridaMarketPlace vendor number. See our MyFloridaMarketPlace guide.

Design-build is a separate track. Section 337.11(7) lets FDOT combine design and construction in one contract, including phased design-build contracts that are awarded first on qualifications.

Finding work

• Central Office lettings. FDOT's "Letting and Project Information" page has one section per letting date. Each section lists every proposal by ID, county and major work type, with links to the proposal documents, addenda, bid items, plan and proposal holder lists, and bid tabs after the letting. Plans can be ordered online through FDOT's Contract Plans Production (CPP) system.
• District lettings. District offices let their own, usually smaller, contracts and post them on district letting pages.
• This site. Our Bids & Lettings page reads the Central Office page every day. It records each proposal so you can filter by county or work type, and each county hub, such as Duval or Hillsborough, shows that county's upcoming proposals.

Open the proposal documents early. Read the special provisions, contract time, any mandatory pre-bid meeting, DBE goals on federal-aid jobs, and every addendum. A missed addendum is one of the most common reasons a bid is rejected.

Submitting a bid

Unless a proposal says otherwise, FDOT requires electronic bids through Bid Express (bidx.com/fl). You download the proposal's bid file into the AASHTOWare Project Bids software, enter prices, acknowledge addenda, run the software's bid check and submit. Submitting requires a BidX digital ID. FDOT's instructions say to allow up to six days to register, so set it up well before your first letting. The proposal documents and FDOT's bidder checklist set the forms and bid guaranty required for each job.

Reading the results

After each letting, FDOT posts a vendor ranking and a full tabulation of bids. These show every bidder's total, its percentage of the low bid, and its unit prices for every item. They are among the most useful free tools in the business:

• See who bids which work types in which districts, and how close the field is. On a recent Hendry County resurfacing job, five bidders finished within about 8% (our US 27 story).
• Compare unit prices for maintenance of traffic, mobilization, paving and structures with your own.
• Find primes to approach for subcontracts. The low bidder on a recent job is a likely buyer for your trade on the next similar one.

Each ranking notes that a protest must be filed within the time set by section 120.57(3), Florida Statutes. Missing that deadline, or failing to post any required bond, waives your protest rights.

A checklist for your first FDOT bid

1. Register with Sunbiz and MyFloridaMarketPlace.
2. If you will bid as a prime over $250,000, apply in CPQ with qualifying financial statements.
3. Set up Bid Express and a digital ID.
4. Watch the letting pages, or subscribe to our alerts.
5. Download the proposal, track the addenda, and attend any mandatory pre-bid meeting.
6. Bid, then study the tabulation whether you win or lose.

This guide is general information. Rules and thresholds change, so confirm current requirements in Rule 14-22, F.A.C., and on FDOT's Contracts Administration pages.