by Liam Niemeyer, Kentucky Lantern
August 7, 2025

A lack of competition for state road paving contracts in Kentucky has driven up costs by millions of dollars through the first six months of 2025, according to an analysis by a free market think tank.  

The Kentucky Forum for Rights, Economics and Education estimates that single-bid contracts awarded by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet have raised the cost of projects by $12,765,410 so far this year, compared to costs when more than one bidder vies for a road paving project. 

The group’s analysis of the Transportation Cabinet’s publicly released road-paving contracts found more than $150 million in single-bid contracts through the first six months of the year. 

Kentucky’s frequent awarding of single-bid paving contracts makes it an outlier among states, according to a 2023 report to state lawmakers by legislative staff. 

“The Transportation Cabinet continues to fail Kentucky’s taxpayers,” said think tank president Andrew McNeill in a statement. “Every dollar wasted on these excessive awards means less money for transportation priorities that would build safer roads and promote economic development across the state.” 

The think tank calculated the excess costs of the single-bid road paving contracts by comparing the bids to two different “competitive scenarios,” pulling from research by the University of Kentucky and Legislative Research Commission that found contracts with two bidders to be significantly lower in cost. The lower cost estimates of those scenarios were then averaged and compared to the higher cost of the single-bid contract. 

A legislative researcher told lawmakers last year some reasons for single-bid contracts are because there are fewer asphalt companies in rural areas and the distance from an asphalt plant to a road project can limit a company’s work. The 2023 report by the Legislative Research Commission included a number of recommendations to the Transportation Cabinet, ranging from using software to detect potential collusion on bids and creating an internal process to verify a state engineer’s cost estimate of a road paving project. 

Allen Blair, a Transportation Cabinet spokesperson, in a statement said the cabinet “ issues requests for competitive bids and works with industry representatives to encourage competition, but sometimes only one bid is received.” Blair said the cabinet communicates with the legislature when there is only one bid for a project.

“The choice is either move forward or not do a project, as the agency complies with provisions set by state law regarding construction project awards and follows rigorous procurement standards and procedures,” Blair said.

The spokesperson did not respond to a question from the Lantern about which recommendations from the legislative report have been implemented by the cabinet. 

McNeill told the Lantern he believes the cabinet’s implementation of the legislative report’s recommendations has been “pretty limited.” One example he points to: the cabinet still posts publicly a list of asphalt companies that are eligible and have expressed interest in specific road paving projects. The report recommended keeping such lists confidential ahead of the bidding process. The cabinet has previously stated such a list allows subcontractors to reach out to asphalt companies for specific projects. 

McNeill said having those lists public allows asphalt companies to see which projects may have only one company versus multiple companies interested in them, allowing companies to determine which projects have a higher likelihood of being a single-bid contract. 

“The recommendation to withhold this list is that, you know, create the uncertainty,” McNeill said. “Don’t let them know that they’re going to be the only bidder on this.” 

Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com.

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Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Center-Right

This content reflects a center-right perspective by emphasizing free market principles and fiscal responsibility. It highlights concerns about government inefficiency and wasteful spending due to lack of competition in state contracts, a common theme in center-right discourse. The critique comes from a free market think tank, which typically aligns with center-right economic views, advocating for competitive bidding to reduce costs and improve government accountability without calling for broad systemic changes. The tone is critical but focused on practical reforms rather than ideological extremes.