How to bid SCDOT construction contracts: prequalification, the Construction Extranet and Bid Express

The South Carolina Department of Transportation lets road, bridge and resurfacing contracts at a monthly letting at its headquarters, 955 Park Street in Columbia. Bids are electronic and opened publicly, and bid totals are posted on SCDOT's website, on Bid Express and on the Construction Extranet right after opening. The November 10, 2026 letting, for example, has 26 calls. Here is the path from interested firm to submitted bid.

Step 1: Prequalify

SCDOT's Notice to Contractors says only contractors that SCDOT has issued a prequalification certificate may submit bids. Prequalification is handled by the Contracts Administration office (Room 332, 955 Park Street; Prequal@scdot.org). Firms file a full application first and keep it current with SCDOT's renewal filing each year. Subcontractors don't need SCDOT prequalification to work under a prime. Some proposals, though, require utility relocation work to go to a firm on a project-specific prequalified utility contractor list, and you must ask to be added at least seven days before the letting.

Step 2: Get documents through the Construction Extranet

• The Construction Extranet has proposals, plans, announcements, bids as received, CPM schedule templates and a contractor discussion board. Access is free, but you must register for a user name and password.
• Proposal bid forms are on Bid Express (bidx.com) when the letting is advertised. For November 10, they were available October 10.
• Hard copies are optional. Engineering Publications prints them on request at $15 per proposal and $2 per plan sheet. You don't have to buy plans to bid. The voluntary plan holders list is on Bid Express.
• Some projects require a minimum quarterly Contractor Performance Score (CPS), which is noted in the advertisement. SCDOT Construction Data Support at (803) 737-2031 can confirm your score.

Step 3: Bid with an electronic bid bond

Unless the advertisement says otherwise, each proposal must include a bid bond for 5% of the approximate bid amount on SCDOT Form 674. It is submitted electronically through the Bid Bonds feature of the Bid Express bid form, with the Bond ID from the Surety 2000 or Tinubu (SurePath) network. SCDOT accepts no other form of proposal guaranty. Bidding through Bid Express requires a digital ID linked to your firm.

After bid opening

• On proposals with utility relocation work, the apparent low bidder must email utility worksheets and the names of its prequalified utility subs to ContractAdmin@scdot.gov within three business days.
• Results appear on SCDOT's letting pages and in our past lettings table, by county.

Licensing and DBE

Prime contractors also need the right South Carolina contractor license group and classification for the job size; see our licensing guide. On federal-aid contracts, DBE goals are met with firms certified by the SC Unified Certification Program. Our county hubs list SCDOT-prequalified and DBE-certified firms by county.

Letting questions go to SCDOT Contract Administration at (803) 737-7469.