The Missouri Department of Transportation’s next foray into the world of electronic business has arrived with a new “electronic plans room.”
The new web-based service will serve as the sole source for project plans, meaning MoDOT will save the expense of printing and distributing plans. The public will also have direct access to all the project plans.
“Contractors and suppliers will get a more efficient system by which to bid our jobs,” said MoDOT Bid and Contract Services Engineer Travis Koestner. “And MoDOT stands to realize significant savings in the area of postage, paper, equipment leases and maintenance agreements.” The new service will save more than $200,000 per year.
The Electronic Plans Room is operated and maintained by a third-party vendor—INDOX Services of St. Louis. Plans for projects to be bid in August and September are now available, although contractors will still be able to order plans directly from MoDOT. For the October letting, though, only INDOX will be providing plans.
The electronic plans room will allow anyone to view, print or download plans for free, or a registered vendor can order a printed set of plans, from INDOX, much as they have in the past through the Plans Room in Jefferson City. Anyone can access the project plans by visiting http://modot.indoxservices.com.
“Up until now the public could only view our plans by special request or at a public hearing,” Koestner said. “But now they can view the same plans the contractor will use to build a project at any time on the Web.”
Since January, MoDOT has been using another independent vendor, BidX.com, to conduct electronic bidding. “It has been well received and is working well,” Koestner says. An average of 60 percent of all bids received have been submitted electronically.
