Government Contract Award Data 2026: Findings From 23,386 Public Bids

Before spending a week on a city bid, an owner needs to know what the contract buys and whether the crew can handle it. Competition matters too. So does the time left to get every required page back to purchasing.

The Bid Control Public Bid Report, October 2026 answers those questions with public records. PorchRocket’s Bid Control data (October 2026) covers 23,386 solicitations. Separate samples measure competition and award sizes; the packet findings come from Texas. The tables show the count behind each finding so a quoted percentage keeps its meaning.

Bid Control by PorchRocket uses this research to help contractors choose and prepare bids. The October 16 update uses data counted October 15. It adds downloadable figures and checks named examples against agency documents. A citation readers can copy is: “Source: PorchRocket, Bid Control Public Bid Report, October 2026.”

What do the October 2026 records cover?

Our records contain 23,386 public solicitations and 1,389 positive-value award records totaling $2,240,197,332, with Texas providing the deepest coverage.

Those are accumulated records, including historical work. They are not a count of jobs available to bid today, and because the award total includes spending caps that can extend across several optional renewal periods, it cannot tell you how much money public buyers paid their contractors during a single year.

Measure	October snapshot	Population or sample
Public solicitations tracked	23,386	23,386 solicitation records across seven states
Recorded awards with positive amounts	1,389	1,389 award records
Aggregate recorded award value	$2,240,197,332	Same 1,389 records, including multi-year caps
Public documents read	201,935	Processed agendas, minutes, packets, tabulations and budgets
Documents fetched in the preceding 30 days	214,096	Retrieval activity, a different measure from documents read
Median posted agency or engineer’s estimate	$500,000	3,538 records with positive estimates
Texas board bids	11,153	11,153 bids from 1,374 agencies
Texas board bids marked open with a future due date	1,902	Subset of the 11,153 Texas board bids at the snapshot cutoff

Posted estimates come mostly from larger construction jobs. The $500,000 estimate median describes that sample only. Use the estimate for the job you are pricing; these separate samples cannot show a discount from estimate to award.

The Texas board was last loaded October 12 at 18:40 UTC, with its latest row update October 14 at 21:39 UTC. The 1,902 count requires both open status and a due date later than October 16 at 00:00 UTC. Check the agency notice before submitting.

I would use this report to choose where to spend estimating time. For work available now, use the current Texas public bid listings. A historical solicitation count cannot answer whether your paving crew has a suitable job to price this week.

How we counted

PorchRocket read bid notices, bid packets, bid tabulations, meeting minutes and award notices from cities, counties, school districts, special districts and state agencies.

The snapshot is dated October 15, 2026. Queries ran October 16 between 02:00 and 03:00 UTC. Accumulated solicitation records have first-seen dates from April 8, 2016, through October 16, 2026. A first-seen date records when a notice entered our collection, so a notice discovered during an archive review can have a recent first-seen date even though the agency advertised the job years earlier and the contractor has already finished the work.

Timing uses narrower windows. Multi-state posting-to-deadline results use notices posted in the preceding 365 days; the separate Texas analysis uses notices posted on or after October 15, 2025. The Texas deadline-clock sample includes due dates from October 15, 2025, through February 15, 2027. Future deadlines belong in that clock analysis because the question is when agencies schedule submissions.

Two collections supply the report. The multi-state collection covers Texas and Florida, plus Pennsylvania, California, Virginia, North Carolina and New York. Packet facts come from Bid Control’s Texas board. We keep their denominators separate instead of adding overlapping collections together.

Median means the middle value after sorting the sample. Half the observations lie on either side, subject to ties. The middle 60 percent runs from the 20th percentile to the 80th percentile: it leaves the lowest fifth and highest fifth outside the displayed range. An average, or mean, adds the values and divides by their count. A few huge purchases can pull that average far above an ordinary trade job.

Every table gives the relevant sample size, sometimes shown as “n.” The award-size analysis includes amounts from $1,000 through $200 million, producing 1,294 observations. The broader award total includes every positive recorded amount, producing 1,389. Those counts answer different questions and should travel with their respective figures.

We exclude merged and retired records from the multi-state totals. Trade tags overlap. When a street project includes paving and electrical work, it can appear in both trade rows; adding those rows would count the same solicitation twice. Packet fields have different coverage too. Missing insurance details do not establish that the agency waived insurance.

We publish subgroup statistics with at least 30 observations when they pass the data-quality review. Samples of 30 to 99 remain visible with their counts; larger samples still carry concentration notes where one buyer dominates. These are observed records from covered agencies, not a random national survey. Bid-tab extraction can also mistake a repeated vendor row for another bidder, which is why a contractor should read the original tab before judging a particular job’s competition.

How many companies bid on a typical public job?

The median is three bidders across 725 public bid tabulations, and 60.6% of those tabulations show three or fewer submitted bidders.

About one in five has a single bidder. I would open that scope before calling it easy work. A required certification can narrow the field, and a demanding schedule can make a job unattractive even when the contract amount looks good.

Competition measure	Result	Tabulations counted
Median bidders	3	725
Exactly one bidder	20.1%	725
Two or fewer	42.3%	725
Three or fewer	60.6%	725
Six or more	21.4%	725

Competition by trade

Trade	Median bidders	One bidder	Three or fewer	n
Paving and concrete work	3	18.4%	63.2%	174
General construction	3	19.8%	54.1%	172
Electrical	3	24.8%	59.4%	101
Grounds and landscaping	2	31.9%	68.1%	72
HVAC	3	20.7%	55.2%	58
Roofing	3	23.9%	65.2%	46
Plumbing and fire protection	2	30.3%	66.7%	33

Competition by state

State sample	Median bidders	One bidder	Three or fewer	n	Coverage detail
Texas	3	14.3%	62.8%	441	71 agencies; largest supplies 26% of tabs
Florida	3	30.0%	63.3%	90	17 agencies; largest supplies 22%
North Carolina	1	51.4%	74.3%	70	Five agencies; Charlotte supplies 54%

Texas accounts for about 61% of the combined competition sample. The North Carolina row describes a small group of buyers, heavily weighted toward Charlotte. It does not establish that the typical North Carolina town receives one bid.

Count submitted companies from the bid tab, the agency’s table of offers received. A plan holders list counts interest. A site-walk sheet counts attendance. Neither tells you how many offers arrived by closing.

Three bidders also does not mean every company has a one-third chance. An established supplier can have a cost advantage; another company can submit a response the buyer cannot accept. The guide to how many bids it takes to win one separates bidder counts from a company’s own win rate. I would track qualified pursuits and responsive submissions separately before budgeting for a string of wins.

How long do contractors get to prepare a bid?

Texas notices provide a median of 24 calendar days from posting to deadline across 6,711 records; the separate multi-state sample has a 28.5-day median.

These are advertised windows. Finding a notice ten days after posting leaves ten fewer days for the takeoff. Check the site-walk date first: missing a mandatory walk can rule your company out even when the bid deadline is still two weeks away.

Timing measure	Result	n	Geography
Median posting-to-deadline window	28.5 days	2,386	Multi-state; Florida supplies about three fifths
Shortest quarter closes within	19 days	2,386	Same multi-state sample
Due within 14 days / seven days	18.4% / 8.2%	2,386	Same multi-state sample
Shortest quarter closes within	12 days	1,422	Florida
Due within 14 days	26.9%	1,422	Florida
Median posting-to-deadline window	24 days	6,711	Texas board
Shortest quarter closes within	18 days	6,711	Texas board
Due within 21 days	40.2%	6,711	Texas board
Due within 14 days / seven days	15.6% / 6.7%	6,711	Texas board

Florida’s timing sample covers 121 agencies. Large contributors include Hillsborough County and Pinellas County, along with the City of Tampa. Enough Florida notices carry posting dates to dominate the multi-state timing calculation. For a Texas job, use the Texas results.

Texas bidding windows by trade

Trade	Median days	Shortest quarter: days or fewer	Due within 14 days	n
Paving and concrete work	26	21	5.5%	1,651
General construction	28	21	7.2%	947
Electrical	25	18	13.7%	380
Grounds and landscaping	24	18	13.3%	392
HVAC	25	18	12.3%	211
Roofing	24	17	9.9%	71
Plumbing and fire protection	24	19	11.7%	419
Painting and envelope	27	20	14.6%	123
Cleaning and janitorial	22	17	16.1%	280

A cleaning company has little room to wait for the owner to finish a busy service week. The Texas cleaning median is 22 days, and the shortest quarter closes within 17. Measure the buildings within that window. Reference checks and staffing decisions must fit too.

My first pass through a packet is a calendar check. Put the closing time on one sheet with the earlier cutoff for questions and any site walk. Then check who must act outside your company: the surety producer, insurance agent or equipment supplier. Their lead time can decide whether the pursuit is feasible before price enters the discussion.

The deadline clock favors afternoons and Thursdays

In 10,358 Texas deadlines with known times, 46.4% fall at 2:00 PM Central Time, and Thursday accounts for 29.1% of due dates.

The Texas clock analysis converts every timestamp to Central Time, including El Paso deadlines. Follow the time zone printed on the buyer’s notice when setting your submission reminder.

Deadline measure	Share	n	Geography and clock
Exactly 2:00 PM	46.4%	10,358	Texas, normalized to Central
Exactly 3:00 PM	13.2%	10,358	Texas, normalized to Central
Exactly 10:00 AM	9.8%	10,358	Texas, normalized to Central
Exactly 1:00 PM	5.9%	10,358	Texas, normalized to Central
Before noon	17.6%	10,358	Texas, normalized to Central
Thursday	29.1%	10,358	Texas
Tuesday or Thursday combined	49.7%	10,358	Texas
Weekend	0.4%	10,358	Texas
Exactly 2:00 PM	42.5%	4,085	Separate multi-state sample, agency-local time, Pennsylvania excluded
Tuesday or Thursday combined	44.4%	4,085	Same separate multi-state sample

The separate local-time sample covers 213 agencies in Texas, Florida, California, North Carolina and Virginia. Florida differs from the Texas pattern: among 1,923 Florida deadlines, 26.2% fall at 3:00 PM and 24.4% at 2:00 PM.

A 2:00 PM deadline creates a different workday from a midnight deadline. If the owner is on a roof at noon, someone in the office must have the authority and files to finish submission. I would make the internal cutoff the previous business day whenever the quote schedule allows it. For submission instructions, use the sealed-bid submission guide.

How big is a typical public contract?

The median recorded award is $187,924 across 1,294 awards, and 57.2% of that sample falls below $250,000.

The middle 60 percent spans $45,000 to $1 million. That wide band covers small service packages and large construction awards. It helps establish scale, but it cannot tell a roofer what to charge per square or a cleaner how many labor hours a building needs.

Award-size measure	Result	Awards counted
Median	$187,924	1,294
20th-to-80th-percentile range	$45,000 to $1,000,000	1,294
Below $50,000	21.3%	1,294
Below $100,000	35.9%	1,294
Below $250,000	57.2%	1,294
Below $1 million	79.4%	1,294

Award amounts by trade

Trade	Median	Middle 60 percent	Below $250,000	n
Paving and concrete work	$474,502	$75,000 to $2,192,315	40.4%	156
General construction	$186,120	$30,055 to $2,273,536	53.5%	187
Electrical	$120,018	$36,828 to $1,122,000	60.3%	136
Grounds and landscaping	$150,201	$20,000 to $1,432,703	61.2%	134
HVAC	$186,268	$43,798 to $1,552,587	55.3%	114
Roofing	$168,591	$40,244 to $675,017	66.7%	48
Plumbing and fire protection	$269,731	$57,688 to $900,000	48.4%	62
Cleaning and janitorial	$181,251	$61,484 to $373,879	76.0%	50

Cleaning amounts often represent annual contracts or limits on unit-price purchases. Read the amount label before comparing a $181,251 cleaning contract with a similarly sized equipment replacement.

Award amounts by state

State sample	Median	Below $100,000	Below $250,000	n
Texas	$155,693	38.6%	61.0%	953
Florida	$120,149	47.9%	59.2%	142
California	$225,592	21.0%	58.8%	119
North Carolina	$1,500,000	3.9%	5.2%	77

Texas supplies about 74% of the award-size sample. Riverside and Newport Beach dominate the California records. North Carolina’s results mostly reflect Charlotte capital projects, so its $1.5 million median should not become a statewide minimum job size in someone’s sales deck.

Start with your crew and cash. For illustration, a $168,591 roofing award could require a large material purchase before the first progress payment. A service award of the same amount might spread the work and monthly invoices across a year. Check the payment schedule before deciding either job fits your cash reserve. The guide to what a government bid is worth explains how contract value differs from the money left after delivery costs.

Named purchases behind the award figures

Lake Alfred approved a $118,019.05 traffic-calming contract for Blacktop Dynasty, while Pinellas County approved a $2,389,975 cap for three years of painting services.

The records below distinguish approved awards from proposals and recommendations, and annual authorizations from multi-year caps.

Buyer and scope	Contractor	Recorded amount	Source status and date
Waco fire-station mowing	Fando Solutions, LLC	$291,840 potential five-year cap; $54,845 for FY2026-27	Proposed award, September 15 agenda
Waco fire-hydrant maintenance	All-Tex Utilities, LLC	$316,948.55 potential three-year cap; $95,755 for FY2026-27	Proposed award, September 15 agenda
Lake Alfred, S. Glencruiten Avenue traffic calming	Blacktop Dynasty, LLC	$118,019.05	Approved September 24; minutes in October 5 packet
Pinellas County painting and pressure washing	SESPECA, LLC	$2,389,975 not to exceed over 36 months	Approved July 21, item 33
Riverside, Orange Terrace park playground and surfacing	Jaynes Brothers Construction, Inc.	$125,252.37	Award recommendation; bids opened June 5
Charlotte, CATS parking-deck repairs	Strickland Waterproofing Company, Inc.	$889,700	Approved March 9, item 40

Use the date of the award vote, even when the minutes appear in a later packet. Lake Alfred’s October 5 packet contains the September 24 vote. Pinellas County’s linked record is July 21 final minutes.

Waco’s mowing proposal is a good test of whether an estimator reads the term. Dividing $291,840 by five gives $58,368 per year as a simple average. The agenda separately identifies $54,845 for the first fiscal year. Use that stated annual authorization when discussing the first year; equal division would overstate it by $3,523.

A not-to-exceed cap also does not promise the buyer will order the full amount. Pinellas County’s painting purchase is as-needed work. A painter evaluating a similar contract needs the order process and expected workload before reserving crew capacity against the headline cap.

For Lake Alfred, the three submitted bids were $118,019.05, $133,560 and $234,827. The difference between the two lowest was $15,540.95. That arithmetic describes this project alone. It supplies no general rule for how far below another contractor you should bid.

What share of public bids need a bond?

Among 638 Texas packets read for bond requirements, 77.1% require a bid bond, with construction and larger jobs overrepresented in that sample.

A bid bond backs the bidder’s commitment if selected. Performance and payment bonds cover different obligations after award. The percentages below describe requirements found in packets, not the percentage of contract dollars a surety charges.

Bond measure	Finding	n
Bid bond required	77.1%	638 Texas packets
Performance bond required	46.1%	638 Texas packets
Payment bond required	41.5%	638 Texas packets
Exactly 5% security among stated bid-bond percentages	77.7%	291 stated percentages
An alternative such as a cashier’s check is listed	35.8%	492 packets requiring a bid bond

Texas trade	Bid bond required	Packets read for bonds
Paving and concrete work	92.1%	355
General construction	81.3%	150
Electrical	77.4%	53
Grounds and landscaping	85.0%	60
HVAC	73.3%	30
Plumbing and fire protection	86.8%	76

The grounds sample includes work classified under grounds and landscaping, which can include construction scopes. Do not read its bond share as the rate for routine mowing alone. Trade labels are broader than a single service.

Here is a labeled illustration: a Temple paving contractor submits $237,460 on a packet requiring 5% bid security. The bond amount is $11,873, calculated as $237,460 × 0.05. That is the security amount, not a quoted premium. If the packet permits a cashier’s check instead, the cash requirement deserves its own decision before bid day.

I would send the bond page to the surety producer when deciding to pursue. Waiting until the price is finished leaves little time to fix the named principal, obligee or required attachment. The bid bond guide explains the documents, and the non-responsive bid guide shows why an otherwise competitive offer can be rejected.

The forms, meetings and insurance inside a Texas packet

Texas packets list a median of three return forms across 295 records, while 38% list five or more and the average is 4.4.

The price sheet counts as a form. So do named certifications and affidavits. Page count alone does not measure the work: a one-page affidavit needing a notary can take longer to arrange than several pages of company details.

Packet requirement or event	Finding	Texas sample
Forms to return	Median 3; average 4.4	295 packets
Five or more forms	38.0%	295 packets
Notarized form or sworn affidavit named	23.4%	295 packets
Explicit notarization flag	11.5%	295 packets
Conflict of Interest Questionnaire, CIQ	34.2%	295 packets
Texas Ethics Commission Form 1295	31.9%	295 packets
Client reference count stated	30.6%	615 packets read for experience requirements
Exactly three references among stated counts	137 of 188	188 stated counts
General liability insurance listed	67.0%	637 packets read for insurance
Workers’ compensation / commercial auto listed	61.1% / 61.1%	637 packets read for insurance
Umbrella / professional liability listed	17.3% / 29.0%	637 packets read for insurance
HUB subcontracting plan required	26.3%	118 packets read for HUB rules
Pre-bid meeting or site visit scheduled	48.7%	638 fully read packets
Mandatory meeting or visit	7.7%	638 fully read packets
Video link recorded for a pre-bid meeting	3.2%	1,955 meeting entries

Only recorded video links count here; a missing link does not establish an in-person meeting. Confirm the instructions before planning travel.

HUB means Historically Underutilized Business. The HUB-plan sample is concentrated in state agencies and universities. Its denominator is those 118 packets.

Form 1295 needs a timing check. The Texas Ethics Commission’s filing instructions tie the disclosure to the signed contract for covered transactions. A packet can name the form even when the selected contractor supplies it later. The 31.9% listing rate does not mean every one of those bidders had to file it before bid opening.

I would put two columns beside the form list: “with the bid” and “after selection.” Assign each signature to a person. Give reference requests and insurance follow-up an owner too. The bid package checklist covers the return packet; the Texas bid forms guide explains the state-specific pages.

This is where Bid Builder saves repeated typing. The Bid Passport stores your company documents, including the W-9 and insurance certificate. Licenses and bonding letters belong there too, alongside references, past-job details and signatures. Reusing that file leaves more time to read requirements that changed for this buyer.

Where are bids posted, and how are they submitted?

Texas board links span 564 posting websites and 15 portal brands across 11,153 bids, with 42.8% marked as requiring login to reach documents.

A website in this count means a distinct hostname. Different agencies’ subdomains on the same portal brand count separately. The 564 figure therefore measures distinct posting locations, not 564 unrelated software products.

Posting or access measure	Finding	Sample
Bid portal destination, including state-operated portals	74.3%	11,153 Texas bids
Bonfire / IonWave / Texas ESBD destination	25.5% / 14.8% / 9.4%	11,153 Texas bids
Agency or other website destination	12.7%	11,153 Texas bids
Newspaper or legal-notice website destination	11.8%	11,153 Texas bids
Engineer plan-room destination	1.1%	11,153 Texas bids
Distinct posting hostnames / portal brands	564 / 15	11,153 Texas bids
Vendor login required for documents	42.8%	11,153 Texas bids
Electronic-only submission, portal or email	86.1%	1,915 Texas bids with stated methods
Paper or hand delivery accepted or required	13.9%	Same 1,915 bids
Paper or hand delivery only	7.6%	Same 1,915 bids
Active agency bid-page monitoring	493 pages, 14 platform types, 284 agencies	Texas page inventory
Active agency bid-page monitoring	278 pages, 12 platform types	Florida page inventory

The portal category includes the state’s Electronic State Business Daily, ESBD. The monitoring rows count active bid-page endpoints in the separate multi-state collection, rather than all agencies on the Texas board.

Login requirements by Texas trade

Trade	Login required	Bids counted
Paving and concrete work	31.0%	2,638
General construction	36.2%	1,582
Electrical	47.8%	604
Grounds and landscaping	39.5%	607
HVAC	44.7%	320
Roofing	27.5%	109
Plumbing and fire protection	41.7%	655
Painting and envelope	42.7%	185
Cleaning and janitorial	41.0%	442
IT and low voltage	23.7%	38

Finding the advertisement and getting the packet are separate tasks. A newspaper notice can point to a plan room; an agency page can send you to a portal. The posting-location analysis classifies the saved bid link or portal link. It does not count every website a contractor might visit along the way.

Electronic-only does not mean email is allowed. A portal-only bid belongs in the named portal. Likewise, an online price form does not cancel a separate instruction to deliver original bid security. I would test account access on the day the job makes the shortlist. The guide to finding government bids covers the search, and Bid Builder includes opening the first two bid-site accounts for you.

How often do buyers choose on more than price?

Requests for proposals account for 47.7% of 5,333 Texas solicitations with a known purchasing method, compared with 32.6% classified as sealed low bids.

An RFP asks for a proposal evaluated against stated criteria. The classification includes Texas competitive sealed proposals. Qualifications requests account for 9.4% of this sample, and informal quotes for 8.4%; other methods make up the remainder.

Texas trade	Sealed low bid	RFP	Known-method records
All methods sample	32.6%	47.7%	5,333
Paving and concrete work	74.6%	19.3%	927
General construction	42.3%	44.4%	565
Electrical	41.3%	46.2%	247
Grounds and landscaping	56.9%	33.5%	239
HVAC	34.5%	57.7%	142
Roofing	41.5%	51.2%	41
Plumbing and fire protection	51.4%	41.9%	284
Painting and envelope	47.1%	36.5%	85
Cleaning and janitorial	31.8%	54.7%	192
IT and low voltage	10.0%	90.0%	30

A paving company and an IT shop face different mixes. The paving sample leans heavily toward sealed low bids. The IT sample has only 30 observations, but within those records the buyer usually requests a scored proposal. Neither row overrides the instructions in the next packet.

Read the evaluation page before drafting. If it awards points for experience with occupied public buildings, describe a matching job: the building type, work hours, scope and a reference who knows your work. A glossy company history does little for a criterion asking who will cover a missed night shift.

For a low-bid purchase, spend the writing time on compliance and scope clarity. For a scored proposal, follow the published criteria closely enough that a reviewer can find the evidence without hunting. The RFP response guide walks through that distinction.

Recurring work, renewal options and payment terms

Among 140 Texas term or as-needed contracts with sufficient duration details, 77.1% can run longer than a year, and the median potential duration is 60 months.

Potential duration includes stated renewal options. It measures how long the relationship could run if those options are exercised. It does not measure how many years the contractor has already secured.

Contract measure	Finding	Texas sample
Term or as-needed rather than one-time	67.2%	362 contracts with stated type
Term / as-needed / one-time shares	43.4% / 23.8% / 32.9%	Same 362 records; rounding applies
Potential duration above one year	77.1%	140 term or as-needed contracts with duration details
Median potential duration including renewals	60 months	Same 140 records
Renewal options stated	36.2%	243 term or as-needed contracts
Four additional one-year renewals	33 of 88, or 37.5%	Contracts with renewal options
Two additional one-year renewals	31 of 88, or 35.2%	Same renewal sample
Service contracts classified as term or as-needed	78.9%	76 service contracts with stated type
Renewal options within that service subset	51.7%	60 term or as-needed service contracts
Service-tagged share of all board bids	12.3%	11,153 Texas bids
Median stated payment interval after invoice	30 days	41 contracts stating an interval

The service group covers cleaning, pest control, waste, mowing, grounds work and maintenance, including selected HVAC maintenance work. The combined sample supports a service-contract finding. It does not support a separate renewal rate for every small service trade.

Four additional one-year periods are the most common renewal pattern in the 88-record options sample. Before calling a contract “five years,” check its initial term too. The calculation is initial months plus the number of options multiplied by months per option.

For a six-person mowing crew in Temple, a renewable route can support longer-range staffing decisions than a one-time cleanup. That is an illustration, not a revenue forecast. Read the minimum order commitment first. Check seasonal frequency and rate adjustments before buying equipment.

The 30-day median describes written payment terms, not observed payments. I would save the invoice instructions with the contract. Track disputed invoices separately from approved ones.

Why low bids lose

Riverside and Charlotte records identify missing bond documents as reasons for rejecting low bids, including offers of $115,000 and $589,348.50.

These records show why particular bids were rejected; they do not establish a rejection rate.

Public record	Offer or bidder affected	Recorded reason	Outcome recorded
Riverside RFB 8248	JMJ Construction, $115,000 low bid	“Missing Power of Attorney documentation with bid bond”	Jaynes Brothers recommended at $125,252.37
Riverside RFB 8248	R E Schultz Construction and Ortco	Missing product testing reports for resilient surfacing	Both marked unresponsive on the tabulation
Charlotte CATS parking-deck repairs, item 40	Freyssinet, $589,348.50 low bid	Bid bond did not accompany submission	Strickland Waterproofing approved at $889,700

Riverside received seven bids. Three were marked unresponsive. The tabulation names each missing item, which is stronger evidence than a general warning that paperwork matters. A power of attorney documents the authority of the person signing for the surety; having the bond page alone did not satisfy this packet.

Charlotte’s accepted amount was $300,351.50 above the rejected low offer. The minutes identify the absent bid bond. They do not say that the low bidder lacked trade skill or could not do the repairs.

My final review starts with the buyer’s return checklist and every attachment it names. Check the signed bid form against the company name on the bond. Check addendum acknowledgments. Open the files that will be submitted. A lower number cannot repair a missing required document after the deadline where the buyer treats that omission as non-responsive.

Using award data without guessing at a winning price

A trade median helps choose job scale; a pricing comparison needs the same scope, quantities and contract term as the job being estimated.

Start with the award action, then open the bid tab and specifications behind it. Keep the approved amount separate from a budget, an unaccepted low offer or an optional contract ceiling. Those amounts can all appear in one packet.

Field in a comparison worksheet	What to record	What it prevents
Buyer, solicitation number and date	The identifiable purchase	Mixing similar project titles
Work quantities	Squares, acres, units or measured service hours	Comparing totals for different workloads
Selected scope	Base work and accepted alternates	Treating an unbought option as purchased work
Site conditions	Access, occupied buildings and work hours	Missing labor or equipment differences
Contract period	Initial term and optional renewals separately	Treating a multi-year cap as annual revenue
Source status	Submitted offer, recommendation or approved award	Calling every posted price a winning price
Current cost check	Supplier quote dates and your production estimate	Copying an old price after costs change

For roofing, match the system and tear-off conditions before dividing by area. For mill and overlay, check depth against tonnage. Price traffic control separately. For janitorial work, match service frequency and who supplies consumables. A shared trade tag is only the start of the comparison.

I would reject a benchmark that cannot be traced back to a source document. An attractive number without a scope or term can steer the estimate in the wrong direction. Use the public bid pricing guide when you have comparable records and need to test your own cost sheet.

Record your pursuit hours after submission. The first packet is usually the slow one because registration and company documents still need attention. Later bids can reuse that work. Log estimating hours separately from paperwork hours, and distinguish abandoned pursuits from submitted bids and rejected offers. That tells the office where the time went.

Download the data

The downloadable CSV contains 121 published statistical rows, each with a sample size, geography, strength label and October 15, 2026 snapshot date.

Download the Bid Control Public Bid Report data as CSV.

The file contains summary statistics, not individual contractor submissions or a list of currently open jobs. Row identifiers connect related findings across the report’s data families.

Copy this citation with a link to this report:

Source: PorchRocket, Bid Control Public Bid Report, October 2026.

A finding needs its sample and place: “Among 6,711 Texas notices with posting and due dates, the median bidding window was 24 calendar days.” For packet findings, retain “packets read for” the requirement being measured. Replacing that phrase with “all government bids” changes the claim.

The October 16 revision updates the totals and adds packet and renewal findings. Keep the snapshot date with downloaded figures so later updates do not get mixed into the same chart.

Where Bid Control puts these findings to work

Bid Builder connects suitable opportunities and past award amounts with the company file and form-by-form help an owner needs to submit a bid.

For an owner who plans to keep preparing bids, I would start with Bid Builder. The repeated work belongs in a reusable company file. Reserve your judgment for the scope and production estimate. Then decide which number you are willing to sign.

• Bid Board finds the work. Your board shows trade and area matches, with due dates, bid papers and addenda together. New matches arrive on your phone, and past winners help you research the next buyer.
• Early project signs give you something to watch. Board minutes, budgets and capital plans show projects moving from talked about to money approved, being designed, bid coming soon and bidding now. Use the project stage to decide when to start researching the buyer.
• Bid Builder helps assemble the return packet. Forms draw from your Bid Passport, and the step-by-step process follows what the buyer wants. You can text a bid expert when a requirement leaves you stuck.
• Portal setup gets attention early. Bid Builder includes opening your first two bid-site accounts, so registration is part of preparation instead of a bid-day surprise.
• Bid Team handles the paperwork with you. With Bid Team, we help pick the jobs and plan each bid on agreed dates, then handle forms, addenda, notary pages, accounts and deadlines. You make the final call on your number, you sign and you send.
• The file improves with each pursuit. References and past awards stay on hand, and insurance and bonding documents can be kept current. Invoice reminders help you follow the payment process on work you win.

Bid Team is for the owner who wants the office work off their plate. If you want to discuss your trade and target jobs first, talk to Rafael for 15 minutes. The call is free, with hours every day from 8 AM to 6 PM Central.

Start with Bid Builder if you want to prepare your own bids with reusable company documents and help on the forms.