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Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development to Hold First Official Bid Letting Using Bid Express

Baton Rouge, La. and Gainesville, Fla. – December 20, 2005: Beginning with the January 2006 bid letting, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LADOTD) will begin accepting bids via the Internet using Bid Express, an online bidding service.

After extensive testing of Bid Express by the agency and contractors, the LADOTD is preparing for full production use of the system. Bid Express provides significant time and cost savings to both the agency and contractors by automating many currently manual processes and eliminating the need for contractors to travel to the letting location to submit bids in person.

The electronic bidding system was evaluated by LADOTD for the past six months. A pilot group of selected contractors was formed to submit test bids for a variety of project types through the Internet. The purpose of the trial lettings was to evaluate the capability of the Internet bidding system to handle the typical projects that LADOTD currently lets through receiving conventional paper bids. The results showed that the internet bidding system is successful for receiving bids on regular projects and those including A+B contracts, proposals with alternate bid items, proposals with amendments, and submittal of bid bonds. LADOTD offered six training sessions for those contractors who signed up for the class. Contractors who bid in Louisiana who wish to use Bid Express can visit the Bid Express website at www.bidx.com or call Bid Express customer support at 1-888-352-2439 for information.

"Projects will be available for submittal of internet bids on or about January 3, 2006. The attempt is to make them available at the Bid Express site on the day that the projects are publicly advertised. The conventional paper bids are still acceptable, but not both. On the letting day, bids that are submitted through the internet will be downloaded and presented along with the paper bids," said John Oglesby, Project Control Administrator for LADOTD.

Bid Express is a web-based bidding information service developed exclusively for the highway construction industry. By using Bid Express, contractors can save time needed for preparing and submitting bids and bid bonds on paper, and travel time and expense in attending lettings. Simple screens allow contractors to quickly scan all current lettings, and optional add-on services, such as bid tab analysis and access to online plan sheets, are also available. Users have access to lettings from across the country -- not just those of their home state -- and real-time bid results are available.

Bid Express is already in production use in 20 state transportation agencies, with additional states in various stages of implementation and testing. Agencies typically participate in a pilot program for several months to introduce the service to their bidding community before officially accepting Internet bids.

Bid Express is offered by Info Tech, Inc. Info Tech software is installed in 40 state departments of transportation, several hundred US cities and counties and two foreign countries, performing a wide range of functions from project estimation to contract administration to electronic bidding. Info Tech, based in Gainesville, Fla., provides customer-oriented, highly technical consulting, software development, systems integration and network communications services for transportation agencies, consulting engineers and contractors. For more information, contact Info Tech at (352) 381-4400 or visit www.bidx.com.

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Valerie Riley, APR
Info Tech, Inc.
(352) 381-4400
Media Contact Info