2005 (See Special Provision 108B) AT AN ESTIMATED COST OF $_______________________
By _____________________________________________________________________
City, St. ___________________________________________________________________
Surety
___________________________________________________________________
DT-1390-V (REV. 01-07-05) STATE OF TENNESSEE
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDERS
BIDS TO BE RECEIVED
MARCH 11, 2005
Sealed bids for the construction of the following projects will be received by the State of
Tennessee, Department of Transportation, Construction Division, Suite 700, James K. Polk Office
Building, Nashville, Tennessee, 37243-0326, and at the Doubletree Hotel Nashville, Nashville,
Tennessee, until 10:00 A.M. March 11, 2005 and opened publicly at the Doubletree Hotel Nashville
at that hour.
The proposed construction shall be performed in accordance with the Standard
Specifications for Road and Bridge Construction of the Tennessee Department of Transportation,
dated March 1, 1995, which are incorporated herein by reference and made a part hereof. In
addition, only the Special Provisions contained within the applicable Contract Proposal will be
considered binding. Any reference to the Standard Specifications dated prior to March 1, 1995
shall be disregarded. In addition, any reference to any Special Provision not contained within the
applicable Contract Proposal shall be disregarded. All questions related to the Contract Proposal,
Plans, Specifications or Special Provisions shall be directed to the Headquarters Construction
Office (615-741-2414). Information received from other offices of the Department is strictly
advisory.
IMPORTANT NOTICE TO BIDDERS:
Prospective bidders should read the following instructions carefully before submitting
their bids. Special attention is called to the regulations of the Department that total bids, rather
than unit prices, will be read. Proposals shall be rejected as being irregular if they fail to contain a
unit price for each item listed. Extensions of the various items must be sub-totaled, carried
forward, and shown as a grand total following the last proposal item. All entries must be in ink.
Written alterations to unit prices and extension of the various items in the CAB program
generated set of bid item sheets will not be cause for rejection of the Proposal, provided each
alteration is made in ink and is initialed by a duly authorized official of the company.
After a bidder has deposited a proposal with the Department, he can withdraw it only on
written request in accordance with Subsection 102.07 of the Standard Specifications.
Totals read at the opening of the bids are not guaranteed to be correct and no final award
of the contract will be made until bids and extensions have been checked and re-checked.
On all projects which are financed in whole or in part by funds received through Federal
agencies and other third parties, the awarding of contracts by the Department will be subject to
approval by the party or parties through which funds are received. The Department reserves the
right to reject any bid proposal which is not acceptable to any such third party set out above,
although such bid proposal would otherwise qualify as the lowest and best bid under the
Standard Specifications of the Department. It shall be the responsibility of the bidder to
determine which projects are so financed in part by third parties, such information being available
upon request from the Department.
1
The awarding of the contract or rejection of all proposals will be made within 30 days after
the formal opening of the proposals. Upon award, a detailed letter of instructions will be
forwarded along with appropriate documents to the low bidder.
The Tennessee Department of Transportation hereby notifies all bidders, that it will
affirmatively insure that in any contract entered into pursuant to this advertisement,
disadvantaged business enterprises will be afforded full opportunity to submit bids in response to
this invitation and will not be discriminated against on the basis of age, race, color, religion,
national origin, sex or disability in consideration for an award.
The Tennessee Department of Transportation is an equal opportunity affirmative action
employer, drug-free, with policies of nondiscrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, color,
national or ethnic origin, age, disability, or military service. Telephone (615) 741-5996.
The bidder is advised to familiarize himself with the provisions of Tennessee Code
Annotated, Section 67-6-209, entitled "Use of Property Produced Or Severed From the Earth-
Exemptions", which relates to the payment of taxes on the use of tangible personal property
severed from the earth. This tax is in addition to those levied for other tangible personal property.
The bidder must have at his disposal the necessary equipment to put on the project when
instructions are issued to begin work, and to do the work within the time specified. In the event
the bidder has been awarded contracts for highway work in the past, he shall have financed his
work in such a manner that just and proper claims in the discretion of the Department,
representing labor and materials entering therein, have not been filed with the Department.
ALTERNATE BID ITEMS
There will be projects that will have numerous alternates. The Contractor will be required
to bid on only one alternate for each construction item. The proper procedure for entering
alternate bids is to enter prices for the intended alternate item(s) of construction and leave the
undesired alternate item(s) of construction blank.
CAB allows only for one alternate to be bid. If prices are entered for more than one
alternate, the CAB will not tabulate the total. Instructions for Computer assisted bidding are
available from the Headquarters Construction office and the method of entering alternates is
explained therein.
PREQUALIFICATION OF BIDDERS:
Each prospective bidder is required to file a document entitled Prequalification
Questionnaire. All of the foregoing shall be filed on a form provided by the Department. This
document shall be filed prior to 12:00 o'clock noon of the day preceding the letting at which a
proposal to be submitted by the prospective bidder is to be considered. The Department reserves
the right to reject any proposal at any time after the acceptance of the Questionnaire should any
information in the judgment of the Department make such action necessary. Bidders intending to
submit proposals consistently shall submit the prequalification document at least once a year.
A proposal to be used for non-bidding purposes may be issued to any interested party
regardless of prequalification.
2
PROPOSAL BOND
Each proposal must be accompanied by a bidder's bond, or Cashier's Check, or Certified
Check made payable to the Department of Transportation in an amount equaling not less than five
percent of the amount bid. In the case of optional items in the proposals, the amount of the
bidder's bond or check must be in an amount equaling not less than five percent of the total
amount of the bid based on the high option.
If the bidder's bond is offered as guaranty, the bond must be on the form furnished by the
Department and made by a surety company, qualified and authorized to transact business in the
State of Tennessee and must be acceptable to the Department.
If a check is offered as guaranty, the check of the successful bidder will be cashable at the
discretion of the Commissioner, pending the satisfactory execution and acceptance of the
contract and the contract bond.
ISSUANCE OF BIDDING DOCUMENTS
This Department is on a cash basis for sales of Plans, Proposal Contracts, Standard
Specifications, Standard Drawings, Standard Drawing Books and Tabulations of Bids. The one
exception for credit sales will be to bonding companies doing business with this Department.
Requests for documents must be accompanied by cash, check, money order, or they may be
mailed to the buyer C.O.D., or authorized charging to a recognized bonding company.
A charge of $25.00 plus 9.25% sales tax, where applicable, will be made for each Proposal
Contract. This charge is applicable regardless of whether the Proposal is to be used for bidding
or non-bidding purposes. Proposals will be obtainable until the time set for opening bids. The
charge for Plans and/or Cross-sections will be as specified in the Notice to Contractors and this
charge will be applicable before the letting and for three months after the letting. Plans ordered
after the three month period will be furnished at $2.00 per sheet. Individual Plan sheets and
individual Standard Drawings will be furnished at $2.00 per sheet. Tabulations of bids will be
furnished at $0.10 per sheet. Standard Drawing Books will be furnished at $100.00 per book.
Standard Specifications for Road and Bridge Construction, dated March 1, 1995, will be furnished
at $12.00 per book. 9.25% sales tax will be added to the above charges when there is in-state
delivery. There will be a minimum charge of $2.00 on any purchase. All documents will be
furnished without refund and transmitted at your risk.
When two or more contractors wish to bid together in a joint venture, each contractor will
be required to make a written request for such a proposal to the Construction Division. This
request shall be signed by an authorized signatory of each firm.
Requests for joint venture proposals may be made in person or by telephone. However,
th