A Handful Of Companies Dominate Road Work In Kentucky. The State Looks The Other Way.

[TexasTowelie]

Andrew McNeill went to the Kentucky legislature last month with a straightforward ask: scrutinize the state’s habit of awarding costly road construction contracts to the only firm that bid for the job.

McNeill, a deputy budget director under former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin, told the legislature’s interim joint committee on transportation that he analyzed the state’s data and found single-bid contracts, specifically, were driving up the cost of construction projects in Kentucky.

If the legislators ordered an audit they could get to the bottom of why, said McNeill, a fellow at the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions. But the lawmakers didn’t bite.

They instead jumped to defend the contractors, criticize McNeill’s analysis of the state’s data and ultimately showed little interest in boosting oversight of a lucrative industry with a history of corruption allegations and shrinking competition.

Read more: https://www.leoweekly.com/2021/12/a-handful-of-companies-dominate-road-work-in-kentucky-the-state-looks-the-other-way/

[bucolic_frolic]

1. I bet it ain't just Kentucky

If anyone had pointed me to money and told me the value of civil engineering, I might have listened. Design, consulting, management, permitting ... it's a lucrative, specialized field. I doubt there's a lot of competition, once you get entrenched. Calculated the cost of some emergency repairs near me one time ... worked out to $10,000 a linear foot with all the overhead.