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County rejects single high bid for 2025 highway striping; plans to use MnDOT or rebid in 2026
Summary
Nicollet County rejected a single $461,367.53 bid for the 2025 highway striping project after it exceeded the engineer's estimate by about $145,400. Public Works will use a MnDOT agreement to stripe seal-coated roads this year and plans to combine funds and rebid more work in early 2026.
Nicollet County public works asked the board to reject the only bid received for the 2025 highway striping project after the single bid came in substantially above the county’s engineer’s estimate.
Bids opened July 7; the county received one bid from Sir Lines-A-Lot for $461,367.53. Public works reported the engineer’s estimate was $315,967.07, making the single bid about $145,400 higher than anticipated. The county noted that Minnesota currently has very limited striping contractors; one primary statewide striper handles most work and capacity is constrained during summer months.
Public works said some epoxy-striping unit prices the county used in its estimate had recently come from a microsurfacing contract in which Sir Lines-A-Lot acted as a subcontractor. The unit prices in the new bid were nonetheless significantly higher. Given the large variance, staff recommended rejecting the bids.
The county has a master partnership agreement with the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT). Public works said MnDOT has capacity to perform latex striping for the county’s seal-coated roads this year at substantially lower unit prices and that the county engineer is authorized to negotiate work orders under the master agreement without further board approval. The county will contract with MnDOT for the seal-coated roads this year and intends to carry unspent funds into next year and bundle additional striping work in a larger 2026 bid to attract competition. Public works noted epoxy striping for concrete-surfaced roads is costlier and MnDOT’s epoxy crews are fully committed to state work and cannot take on most county epoxy-striping tasks.
Commissioners discussed options including contracting jointly with neighboring counties to attract entrants, the cost of purchasing striping equipment (which staff advised would be a large capital expense), and whether earlier bidding next year (February–March) might bring more competitive offers. The board voted to reject the bid.
