Overview |  FAQ |  Glossary  |  Flow Diagram

General overview
MassDOT’s strategic mission is to align with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Order to have one mechanism, for achieving greater efficiencies and cost in an Information and Technology System. In 2008, MassDOT Construction took aggressive steps by performing a risk analysis of current data repositories and determined, it was necessary to create a Contract Management System (CMS) as the tool that would accomplish this task. To align with the planned implementation of the Contract Management System, MassDOT-Highway now will mandate the use of the Construction Project Estimator and WABA application in the preparation of Preliminary Design Estimates. MassDOT-Highway developed this estimating system to ensure design estimates are more accurate. This application helps design engineers gauge future construction projects by using current pricing information. Critical to producing more accurate estimates, this online Construction Project Estimator application leverages data from the Weighted Average Bid application.

What is a preliminary estimate?
A preliminary estimate is a designer’s original estimate of work. It is what contractors use to prepare bids. A preliminary estimate details the unit price for each line item needed for a specific project. Each item is assigned a unique number that represents a unit of materials, labor, or supplies.

What this application does
This application helps project designers produce a preliminary estimate for a transportation construction project using computed statistics from previous vendor bids. The version of project information that the application uses is updated weekly. For each standard item, the application will default in a unit price equal to the median unit price for the interval where the entered quantity falls. If no statistics are found in the specified District, the application will default in the average for all Districts.

What this application does not do
This application does not impact live data. Using this application will not alter existing projects or create new projects. This application only assists you in creating a project design preliminary estimate. You are still responsible for submitting any estimates through the normal channels. Use of this application does not guarantee that your estimate will be viewed or accepted by MassDOT- Highway. Prices are based on the weighted average of vendor bids and are subject to change. Use this application only as guidance, not as a guarantee.

What does the 'Weighted Bid Prices' module of this application do?
The 'Weighted Bid Prices' module is intended to provide access to timely average mean and median bid price data. Project bid data will be updated weekly to reflect the most recent bids received by MassDOT- Highway.

What bids are used to calculate the weighted bid prices?
The database uses all bid data received in responsive bids, not just the low bid. The bid prices are displayed in groups of increasing quantities. The limits of these groups will be revised as additional bid data is obtained, and is intended to provide an indication of bid price variations as quantities increase. The bid data is analyzed to remove very high and very low bids. The application is designed to provide a range of information about historical bid values for any particular item. It is not intended to provide absolute values for each item.

 

FAQ
Here are some frequently asked questions about this application.

Q: I am a design engineer. How can this application help me with the whole process of design estimates?
A: Begin by generating a preliminary estimate for a new project. Save your 25% preliminary estimate, and continue to update it throughout the design process. Once a final design is created, print the estimate and send it to MassDOT, Highway with the PS&E package.

Q: Will using this application affect existing project data? Can I accidentally mess up a project?
A: No. This application uses a copy of project information that is updated weekly. You cannot change anything about an existing project by generating an estimate with this application. Neither can you create a project by using this application.

Q: How do I print a copy of my estimate?
A: To print a copy of your estimate, export your file to PDF from the "Review Selected Items" tab, and then print the PDF.

Q: How can I save a partially completed version of an estimate?
A: You do not have to. Every change you make is automatically saved. Any estimates you create will be made available to you once you log into the application.

Q: How is bid data processed by the "Weighted Bid Prices" module?
A: Once the system has identified all bids meeting the selected criteria, the following analytical processes will occur:

1. Project bids are ordered by project quantity
2. The lowest quantity is subtracted from the highest quantity
   1. The result is divided by the items’ quantity group factor creating the appropriate number of equalized quantity groups.
3. All bids are distributed to their appropriate quantity group
4. The median price is determined for each quantity group
5. The items’ variance percent is applied to the median price for each quantity group in order to create a high median and a low median for each group
6. All bids falling outside the high median and low median ranges for each quantity group are discarded
   1. A new median price is determined for each quantity group.
   2. The mean price for each quantity group is calculated.

Q: What are very high and very low bids?
A: These are bid prices determined to be excessively high or low when compared to the median bid price of all bids for a given item. This determination is based on calculating the items’ high/low median price as follows:

1. high = median price + (median price * variance percentage)
2. low = median price – (median price * variance percentage)

Since individual bids falling outside this high/low range, may skew the averages, they are ignored.

Have a question not answered here or on the Help page? More help is only an email away.  

Glossary
Here are some terms you may find throughout this application.

• Project Number: This is a field in which the user will specify the Project Number for which this preliminary estimate is being created. The project number is the unique identifier of the project in ProjectInfo (MassDOT-Highway Division’s project tracking system).
• Project Description: Text description of the construction work. Field is limited to 60 characters.
• MassDOT, Highway Division District: Identifies the MassDOT-Highway District responsible for the construction. The following are the valid values for a District:
   1-6: Current Highway Districts
   8: Central Artery
• Measurement System: E: English measurement system; M: Metric measurement system
• Vendor Bids: Only responsive bids are considered. A bid may be declared non-responsive by MassDOT-Highway for many reasons such as clerical or mathematical error, or in response to the vendor's request to withdraw there bid. Also certain unit prices may be considered too high or too low to participate in the computing of the statistics. A variance level is defined for each line item where prices are considered appropriate to participate in the statistics.
• Item No: Item number, an identifier of an activity to be performed. If you enter an item number that corresponds to a MassDOT-Highway standard line number, the description, units and type fields will be overridden automatically by the MassDOT-Highway standard values. You are also allowed to enter a non-standard item number.
• Units: How the item is measured. The unit must agree with the measurement system chosen in the header. A list of valid units of measure is available at the end of this page.
• Type: This is a field which is automatically populated based on the item number selected.
   Blank: Standard item
   Noted with *: Standard item requiring a special provision
  
• Unit Price: The unit price of the item number represents the designer’s estimate of the item’s cost per unit of measure. The application will default in a unit price equal to the median unit price computed from previous valid bids that referenced the line item.
• Minimum: The minimum unit price from the vendor bids.
• Maximum: The maximum unit price from the vendor bids.
• Quantity: Represents the quantity in the specified units for the item.
• Min Quantity: The lower end of quantity interval.
• Max Quantity: The upper end of quantity interval.
• Mean: The average unit price.
• Median: The middle unit price, above and below which lay an equal number of unit prices. This number is computed from the line item statistics and is used as the default unit price for the line item.
• Responsive Bids: Bids determined to be "acceptable" by MassDOT, Highway.
  Bids determined to be "unacceptable" may be:
  
  1. Bids declared "rejected" or "non-responsive" due to clerical and/or mathematical error.
  2. Bids with the approval of MassDOT-Highway Division, withdrawn at the bidders requested.

Standard Units of Measure

Unit Description Measurement System $ US DOLLARS English and Metric ALS ANNUAL LUMP SUM English and Metric BAG PER BAG English and Metric CAR PER CAR English and Metric CNG PER CLEANING English and Metric CUT PER CUT English and Metric DAY PER DAY English and Metric DD PER DRUM DAY English and Metric DRM PER DRUM English and Metric EA EACH English and Metric FLR PER FLOOR English and Metric HR PER HOUR English and Metric HRS PER HOUR English and Metric LS LUMP SUM English and Metric MD PER MAN DAY English and Metric MH PER MAN HOUR English and Metric MO PER MONTH English and Metric SD PER SPACE DAY English and Metric SPT PER SPOT English and Metric U PER UNIT English and Metric UD PER UNIT DAY English and Metric WK PER WEEK English and Metric MMG PER MILLION GAL English VF PER VERT. FT. English UC **CA/T USE ONLY English SY PER SQUARE YARD English TON PER TON English TPM **CA/T USE ONLY English SF PER SQUARE FOOT English SFD **CA/T USE ONLY English SH **CA/T USE ONLY English SI PER SQUARE IN English MSF **CA/T USE ONLY English OZ PER OUNCE English QT PER QUART English RIS **CA/T USE ONLY English MBM PER MFBM English MGL PER 1000 GALS English

Unit Description Measurement System KWH PER KILOWATT HR English GAL PER GALLON English CY PER CUBIC YARD English CSF PER 100 SQ. FT. English LB PER POUND English LBS PER POUND English LD **CA/T USE ONLY English LF PER LINEAR FOOT English LFD **CA/T USE ONLY English LI PER LINEAR INCH English LM PER LINEAR MILE English LOD **CA/T USE ONLY English CCF PER 100 CU.FT. English CF PER CUBIC FOOT English CGL PER 100 GALS English CH **CA/T USE ONLY English CLF PER 100 LIN FT. English BBL PER BARREL English BF PER BOARD FOOT English A PER ACRE English AAA **CA/T USE ONLY English AL **CA/T USE ONLY English CM PER CUBIC METER Metric CMM PER CUBIC ARE Metric HA PER HECTARE Metric L PER LITER Metric Metric PER METER Metric KG PER KILOGRAM Metric KL PER KILOLITER Metric KM PER KILOMETER Metric MG PER MEGAGRAM Metric MRD PER METER DAY Metric MM PER MILLIMETER Metric MT PER METRIC TON Metric SM PER SQ. METER Metric SMM PER SQ. MM Metric VM PER VERT. METER Metric

Table 1: Table of standard MassDOT-Highway units of measure.

Flow Diagram