Quarterly index · Q4 2026 edition
Public Construction Bid Index: Q4 2026
Published Oct 18, 2026. Lettings from Oct 1, 2025 to Sep 30, 2026, compared with the year before.
How much competition does public construction work draw? This index counts the bids in official bid tabulations: 4,435 lettings in 14 states, from 8 state DOTs and local agencies on PlanetBids. It reports bidders per letting, the share of lettings that drew a single bid, and how low bids compare with the engineer's estimate, by state and by type of work.
- Lettings with official tabulations
- 4,435
- 14 states
- Average bidders per letting
- 4.18
- Drew exactly one bid
- 10.1%
- Drew five or more bids
- 35.7%
- Median low bid ÷ engineer's estimate
- 89.8%
- TX, IN, SD; 2,537 lettings
Findings
- Competition rose year over year in the 8 matched states: 3.99 → 4.23 bidders per project, and the single-bid rate went from 10.9% to 9.6%.
- Single-bid rates ranged from 0.7% (FL, FDOT, PlanetBids agencies) to 26.3% (VA, VDOT).
- The most bidders per project were in CA (5.85, PlanetBids agencies), the fewest in VA (2.38).
- Where an engineer's estimate is published (TX, IN, SD), the median apparent low bid came in at 89.8% of the estimate, and 75.7% of low bids were under it.
Year over year
Compared only within the 8 states with at least 30 lettings in both years (AL, CA, FL, IL, IN, NY, SD, TX), so a change in source mix does not move the result.
| Matched states | Lettings | Average bidders | Single-bid rate | Five or more bids | Low bid ÷ estimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2025 – Sep 30, 2026 | 4,306 | 4.23 | 9.6% | 36.4% | 89.8% |
| Oct 1, 2024 – Sep 30, 2025 | 4,838 | 3.99 | 10.9% | 32.9% | 88.5% |
By state
| State | Source | Lettings | Average bidders | Single-bid rate | A year earlier | Five or more bids | Low bid ÷ estimate | Lettings through |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | TxDOT | 2,114 | 4.64 | 7.5% | 9.2% | 44.3% | 90.9% | Sep 30, 2026 |
| Illinois | IDOT | 812 | 2.90 | 19.5% | 18.3% | 14.3% | — | Sep 18, 2026 |
| California | PlanetBids agencies | 389 | 5.85 | 6.7% | 12.7% | 54.0% | — | Jul 2, 2026 |
| Indiana | INDOT | 274 | 4.24 | 2.6% | 4.8% | 35.8% | 82.6% | May 7, 2026 |
| New York | NYSDOT | 231 | 3.11 | 12.1% | 11.0% | 18.2% | — | Jun 25, 2026 |
| Alabama | ALDOT | 194 | 2.80 | 15.5% | 8.7% | 10.3% | — | Jul 31, 2026 |
| South Dakota | SDDOT | 150 | 4.33 | 4.7% | 8.0% | 48.0% | 89.1% | Sep 16, 2026 |
| Florida | FDOT, PlanetBids agencies | 142 | 4.91 | 0.7% | 5.1% | 51.4% | — | Jun 30, 2026 |
| Virginia | VDOT | 80 | 2.38 | 26.3% | — | 7.5% | — | Jan 14, 2026 |
Not shown, with fewer than 30 lettings each: Ohio (28), Nevada (12), North Carolina (4), Connecticut (3), Oregon (2). Their counts are in the download.
By type of work
| Work type | Lettings | Average bidders | Single-bid rate | Five or more bids | Low bid ÷ estimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roadwork | 2,262 | 4.17 | 10.3% | 36.3% | 89.3% |
| Highway program (work not named) | 1,424 | 3.89 | 10.7% | 31.5% | 90.8% |
| General Construction | 179 | 4.19 | 11.2% | 33.0% | 89.8% |
| Water/Sewer | 174 | 4.49 | 8.6% | 40.8% | 83.5% |
| Concrete | 128 | 5.86 | 4.7% | 52.3% | 85.4% |
| Electrical | 37 | 4.41 | 13.5% | 32.4% | — |
| Unclassified | 30 | 4.60 | 20.0% | 33.3% | — |
Work types with fewer than 30 lettings are in the download. "Highway program (work not named)" is a state DOT letting whose title names no trade, such as a contract number or maintenance shorthand.
By state and type of work
| State | Work type | Lettings | Average bidders | Single-bid rate | Low bid ÷ estimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Roadwork | 193 | 2.80 | 15.5% | — |
| California | Water/Sewer | 81 | 5.38 | 7.4% | — |
| California | Roadwork | 73 | 5.66 | 4.1% | — |
| California | General Construction | 69 | 5.06 | 8.7% | — |
| California | Concrete | 34 | 9.79 | 0.0% | — |
| Florida | Roadwork | 134 | 5.00 | 0.7% | — |
| Illinois | Roadwork | 634 | 2.79 | 20.5% | — |
| Illinois | Highway program (work not named) | 53 | 3.55 | 20.8% | — |
| Illinois | Concrete | 43 | 3.74 | 7.0% | — |
| Indiana | Highway program (work not named) | 274 | 4.24 | 2.6% | 82.6% |
| New York | Roadwork | 169 | 3.11 | 13.0% | — |
| South Dakota | Roadwork | 81 | 4.16 | 4.9% | 94.1% |
| Texas | Highway program (work not named) | 979 | 3.97 | 11.0% | 92.9% |
| Texas | Roadwork | 967 | 5.32 | 4.1% | 89.1% |
| Texas | General Construction | 56 | 4.57 | 5.4% | 91.2% |
| Texas | Concrete | 36 | 5.11 | 5.6% | 82.0% |
| Virginia | Highway program (work not named) | 73 | 2.10 | 28.8% | — |
Cells with at least 30 lettings.
Sources
| Source | States | Lettings | With engineer's estimate | Newest letting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TxDOT | TX | 2,114 | 2,114 | Sep 30, 2026 |
| IDOT | IL | 812 | 0 | Sep 18, 2026 |
| PlanetBids agencies | CA, CT, FL, NC, NV, OH, OR | 446 | 0 | Jul 2, 2026 |
| INDOT | IN | 274 | 274 | May 7, 2026 |
| NYSDOT | NY | 231 | 0 | Jun 25, 2026 |
| ALDOT | AL | 194 | 0 | Jul 31, 2026 |
| SDDOT | SD | 150 | 149 | Sep 16, 2026 |
| FDOT | FL | 134 | 0 | Jun 15, 2026 |
| VDOT | VA | 80 | 0 | Jan 14, 2026 |
Methodology
- Population. Every letting with a bid-open date in the window and at least one bid in its official tabulation: state DOT bid tabulations, plus results that local agencies publish on PlanetBids. Each letting counts once, and repeated rows are removed. This is not a national sample, and highway work dominates it: TxDOT alone is 48% of lettings.
- Bidders per letting is the number of bids on the tabulation. Single-bid rate is the share of lettings with exactly one bid.
- Low bid ÷ engineer's estimate uses only lettings whose source publishes an estimate (TxDOT, INDOT, SDDOT). Below 100% means the low bid came in under the estimate. The low bid is the lowest tabulated bid, an apparent low bid: award status is not in the data.
- Exclusions. A tabulation whose lowest bid is under $1,000 lists unit prices, not contract totals, so it is left out. An estimate five or more times the low bid is treated as a source typo.
- Work type is the trade our classifier assigns to the letting title, the same one that sorts bids on this site.
- Scope. DOT letting programs are counted as published, maintenance and material contracts included.
- Small cells. Any rate or median based on fewer than 30 lettings is suppressed.
- Lag. Agencies publish tabulations weeks to months after a letting, so the newest quarter is thinner for some states (see "Lettings through"). Year-over-year changes compare each state with itself.
- Names. The index reports aggregates only. It names no bidder or contractor.
Download and cite
Every table cell on this page, including the cells too small to show and the year-earlier figures, is in the CSV. Download public-construction-bid-index-2026q4.csv
ConstructionBids.ai. "Public Construction Bid Index: Q4 2026." Published Oct 18, 2026. https://constructionbids.ai/public-construction-bid-index
Please cite the scope with any figure: lettings with official bid tabulations from state DOTs and PlanetBids agencies, not all public construction. Questions: support@constructionbids.ai.
Related data
- Bid results by agency: letting calendars, recent results and bidder counts for each source.
- Single-bid rate in public works: ten state DOTs, January 2024 to June 2026.
- Transportation bid statistics: win rates and bid spreads.