Two bids came in March 26 for NYSDOT contract D265624, highway sign replacement on Route 907K in the Town of Eastchester and the Cities of Mount Vernon and Yonkers, Westchester County. Tully Construction Company Inc. was low at $16,294,724.25. Westmoreland Construction Inc. bid $20,222,222.00, $3,927,497.75 higher, a 24.10% gap. With two bids, that is the whole spread, and the midpoint is about $18.26 million.

NYSDOT's itemized tabulation titles the job "Parkway Guide Sign and Sign Structure Replacement." The line items run to overhead sign structures, sign structure repairs and arm-mounted structures, not just panels. It is PIN 8814.76 in Region 8, and it is state funded. The advertisement listed goals of 7% MBE, 11% WBE and 6% SDVOB and flagged the contract as a PLA candidate, meaning a project labor agreement may govern the work. The deposit was 5% of bid. The proposal sets completion for Feb. 28, 2029, a three-season job.

NYSDOT does not print an engineer's estimate with its letting results, and this PIN has no separate line in the Region 8 section of the state's Transportation Improvement Program. There is no public construction figure to measure the bids against, only each other. Our board carries it as RFI-002565.

The same route turned up on NYSDOT's Feb. 26 letting, when Westmoreland Construction Inc. took D265647, retaining wall and pavement improvements on Route 907K in Yonkers, at $4,241,979.00. Westmoreland lost this one.

Why this matters. Sign-structure replacement on a live parkway is specialty work: foundations, structural steel and electrical, all over moving traffic. A two-bid field says few general contractors wanted to carry it. The 24% combined MBE, WBE and SDVOB goals mean a large share of the $16.3 million should reach certified firms, which is real money for a sign job.

What to do next. Apparent low is not an award, and the PLA question has to be settled before work starts. Certified sign fabricators, structural steel erectors, foundation drillers, electrical subs and traffic-control firms should get their numbers and certifications in front of Tully now, while it builds the utilization plan it owes NYSDOT. Union-signatory subs should watch for the PLA terms.