Gainesville, Fla. – More than 59,000 reams of paper, which translates to more than 3600 trees. Just by going paperless with Internet highway construction bidding, contractors and state transportation agencies have saved that much paper.

Before Internet bidding was introduced to the road construction process eleven years ago, agencies were printing bid books for each project and contractors were submitting their bids on paper. Even with conservative estimates, agencies were printing 15 copies of the 50-page bid books and contractors were submitting bids in excess of 25 pages. Over the past eleven years, this adds up to a savings of more than 29.5 million pieces of paper. Plus, the process was ripe for errors, meaning bids were often printed and re-printed many times.

Agencies and contractors alike are advocates of Internet bidding for the tremendous cost savings and convenience it brings to the bidding process. These added environmental benefits make the process even more appealing.

“Agencies are constantly being asked to make environmentally conscious choices and to reduce their carbon footprint,” says Joe Phelan, vice president of Sales and Marketing for Bid Express. “When they implement Bid Express, they can do so, plus they are able to save money and time for both their agency and their contracting community.”

In addition to saving trees, implementing Bid Express also cuts down on CO2 emissions. Contractors are able to submit their bids via the Internet with Bid Express, meaning they do not need to drive their bids to the letting agency. Over the past eleven years, this is estimated to have saved contractors more than 3.33 million travel miles which translates 166,500 gallons of gas saved. That means that 3.2 million pounds of CO2 emissions have been saved by using Bid Express.

Bid Express is a web bidding information service. 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 a search function is available for keyword information on current lettings and bid tab data from previous lettings. Users have access to lettings from all agencies using Bid Express ­-- not just those of their home state.  Agencies benefit by not needing additional staff at lettings and by generating and tracking less paper. They also get electronic bids that are more accurate and ready to load.

Contractors pay a minimal monthly subscription fee for the basic service, and can elect additional add-on, bidding-related services, including access to electronic plan sheets, the small business network for reaching subcontractors, and a bid tabs analysis service.

Bid Express is offered by BidX.com, an Info Tech company. 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.

Statistics on the environmental impact of Bid Express

Paper usage – Bid submission by contractors

• 100,000 bids submitted on Bid Express (since its inception)
• Assuming each submitted bid has an average of 25 pages.
• 25 pages x 100,000 bids submitted = 2.5 million pieces of paper saved
• 5,000 reams of paper saved
• 1 tree makes 8333.3 sheets of copy paper
• Total trees saved in bid submission is more than 300

Paper usage – Bid letting by agencies

• Total number of projects let on Bid Express 37,000 (since its inception)
• An average of 15 bid books are produced for each project
• Each bid book contains an average of 50 pages
• 37,000 projects x 15 bid books per project x 50 pages per bid book =
• More than 27 million pieces of paper saved
• 54,000 reams of paper saved
• 1 tree makes 8333.3 sheets of copy paper*
• Total trees saved in bid letting is more than 3330

Gas usage

• Total number of projects let on Bid Express 37,000
• Assuming each project has an average of 3 bidders
• Assuming each bidder travels an average of 30 miles to submit a bid.
• Travel miles saved = 3.33 million miles
• Assuming a vehicle gets 20 mpg
• 166,500 gallons of gas saved
• CO₂ emissions from a gallon of gasoline = 19.4 pounds/gallon**
• 3.2 million pounds of CO2 emissions saved by Bid Express

* source – Conservatree.com

**source – EPA - Calculating CO2 emissions. To calculate the CO2 emissions from a gallon of fuel, the carbon emissions are multiplied by the ratio of the molecular weight of CO2 (m.w. 44) to the molecular weight of carbon (m.w.12): 44/12. CO2 emissions from a gallon of gasoline = 2,421 grams x 0.99 x (44/12) = 8,788 grams = 8.8 kg/gallon = 19.4 pounds/gallon.

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