Northwest Public-Works Bid Digest: Week of August 31, 2026

This is our weekly roundup of open public-works bid opportunities across the Northwest that matter to electrical and utility contractors — transmission and distribution work, substations, fiber and plant electrical, and the material and service packages that go with them. We update it every Monday. Every listing below came off the owner's own solicitation page, links back to it, and had a bid due date in the future when we published. Some weeks that's a dozen jobs; some weeks it's a handful. This is a handful week, and we'd rather give you four verified ones plus two worth a phone call than pad the list with expired or unverifiable listings.

It's a short-fuse one, too. The two Idaho Falls fiber packages close Tuesday, September 1 — if you're not already working them, treat them as reference — but the Tacoma Power pole contract runs to mid-September and the Cowlitz County pump-station buy has a little over a week on it. We checked the usual WA/OR/ID portals plus Oregon's OregonBuys and Montana's state and university boards; nothing electrical with a live future date turned up in Oregon or Montana this week, so if you work the Willamette Valley or east of the divide, this one's thin for you. Here's what's open.

This Week at a Glance

Project	Agency	Location	Bid Due
Wood Pole Inspection, Test & Treatment (PT26-0181F)	Tacoma Power	Tacoma, WA	Sep 15, 2026, 11:00 AM PT
Shadow Mountain Pump Station (2026-0040)	Cowlitz County Public Works	Cowlitz County, WA	Sep 8, 2026, 9:00 AM PT
Fiber Microduct Drop Installation, Deep (IFP-26-26)	Idaho Falls Power	Idaho Falls, ID	Sep 1, 2026, 1:30 PM MT
Fiber Residential Installation (IFP-26-25)	Idaho Falls Power	Idaho Falls, ID	Sep 1, 2026, 1:00 PM MT

Wood Pole Inspection, Test & Treatment (PT26-0181F) — Tacoma Power

Tacoma Power's Transmission & Distribution division has a services contract out for wood-pole inspection, testing, and decay treatment across its system. It's a multi-year maintenance package — the solicitation carries a roughly $2.15 million estimate over a four-year term — aimed at contractors who run pole-inspection and groundline-treatment crews rather than at construction bidders. It's the most runway on this week's board.

• Due: Tuesday, September 15, 2026, 11:00 AM PT, spec PT26-0181F. A pre-bid meeting is referenced in the documents and held over Microsoft Teams — confirm the date and dial-in in the solicitation before you commit.
• Scope: Inspection of wood utility poles, testing, and treatment of decay for Tacoma Power's T&D system.
• Source: City of Tacoma request for bids PT26-0181F

Worth checking: Confirm the prequalification requirement first — Tacoma Power maintains a prequalified list for distribution, transmission, and substation work, and prequal is generally expected to be in place when the solicitation is advertised. Because it's a multi-year, unit-priced maintenance contract, read for the estimated annual pole counts, the treatment specification and any warranty on treated poles, and how mobilization and travel across the territory get paid. Confirm the bid-security and performance-bond requirements, Washington prevailing wage (L&I intent/affidavit filing generally applies), and any traffic-control constraints for poles in occupied right-of-way.

Shadow Mountain Pump Station (2026-0040) — Cowlitz County Public Works

Cowlitz County Public Works has a potable booster pump station out to bid — the package is described as a pump station "supply" with pump, piping, sensors, and controls. For an electrical or controls estimator, the interesting part is the instrumentation and controls scope, so the first thing to nail down is whether this is a furnish-only equipment buy or a furnish-and-install job.

• Due: Tuesday, September 8, 2026, 9:00 AM PT, bid 2026-0040.
• Scope: Potable water booster pump station — pump, piping, sensors, and controls.
• Source: Cowlitz County bidding opportunities

Worth checking: The word "supply" is the pivot — read the package to confirm whether you're furnishing a packaged station to the county or installing it, because that decides whether prevailing wage and a construction schedule even apply. If there's installation, expect Washington prevailing wage (L&I filings) and a bid-security/performance-bond requirement — verify the percentages. On the controls side, read for the PLC/SCADA integration point, the sensor and telemetry list, whether the county's existing controls platform is specified, and who owns startup and commissioning. Confirm the delivery or substantial-completion date and any liquidated damages.

Fiber Microduct Drop Installation, Deep (IFP-26-26) — Idaho Falls Power

Idaho Falls Power, the city's municipal utility, has its deep microduct drop package open. It covers individual microduct drop installation at depths greater than 18 inches for the Idaho Falls Fiber broadband buildout — underground/fiber work on a unit-price basis. It's a fast one: bids are due Tuesday.

• Due: Tuesday, September 1, 2026, 1:30 PM MT, bid IFP-26-26.
• Scope: Install individual microduct for a broadband drop deeper than 18 inches.
• Source: idahofallsidaho.gov bids

Worth checking: Confirm whether you're pricing a fixed quantity or a term/unit-price contract against estimated volumes — that drives how you carry mobilization, locates, and restoration. Idaho has no state prevailing-wage law, but broadband buildouts are frequently grant-funded (BEAD and similar), and federal money can pull in Davis-Bacon wage determinations — read the documents for any wage rate before you bid it as private-rate work. Pin down the boring-versus-trenching assumption at depth, the restoration standard, and the Idaho Public Works Contractor License and bonding requirements. Full documents are on the city's QuestCDN plan room linked from the bids page.

Fiber Residential Installation (IFP-26-25) — Idaho Falls Power

Running alongside the deep-drop package, Idaho Falls Power also has its residential fiber install package open — installation of fiber, the Optical Network Terminal (ONT) device, and the required splicing for Idaho Falls Fiber service. This is the inside/finish end of the same broadband buildout, and it closes 30 minutes ahead of the microduct package on the same day.

• Due: Tuesday, September 1, 2026, 1:00 PM MT, bid IFP-26-25.
• Scope: Install fiber, ONT device, and required splicing for residential Idaho Falls Fiber service.
• Source: idahofallsidaho.gov bids

Worth checking: Fiber splicing certification and test/acceptance standards (OTDR results, loss budgets) usually drive who can bid this, so read for the required qualifications first. Confirm whether the ONTs and any drop hardware are utility-furnished or in your scope, and how per-drop pricing is structured against estimated volumes. The same grant-funding caution as the microduct package applies — check for any Davis-Bacon wage determination — along with the Idaho Public Works Contractor License and bonding requirements. With a 1:00 PM MT Tuesday deadline, this is one to move on today if you're set up for it.

Also Open, Worth a Call

Two PUD material/underground items are live on their owners' pages but don't post a due date on the summary listing, so treat them as call-arounds rather than dated deadlines:

• Okanogan County PUD — Loup 115 Line, Maclean insulators. Listed as an active call for bids on the PUD's bid invitations page — 115kV insulators for the Loup transmission line, a furnish-and-deliver material buy for line-material suppliers. No due date is posted on the summary, so confirm the deadline and reel/quantity details with Roy Schwilke at (509) 422-8484 or roys@okpud.org before you build it. (The companion 336.4 ACSR conductor buy, bid 471-26, has already closed.)
• Cowlitz PUD — Underground Conduit Installation, Woodland/Kalama (UC1854). Posted as an open bid on Cowlitz PUD's bid documents page — conduit installation for underground distribution. The summary page carries the bid packet but no due date, so pull the packet and confirm the deadline and submission method with the PUD before you commit crews.

Before You Chase These

Four verified with dates, two worth a call, and the calendar is why it's a light board: a lot of the summer's Northwest utility work has already closed, and short-fuse fiber and material packages open and close inside a week or two. That's the case for watching this weekly — the two Idaho Falls fiber jobs close Tuesday, and the Okanogan insulators and Cowlitz PUD conduit are exactly the kind of undated call-around you miss if you're not looking every Monday.

Dates and times above were verified against each owner's own solicitation page the day we published, but addenda move targets — always confirm the current due date, submission method, and any pre-bid requirement on the source page before you build your bid.

Want this in your inbox every Monday? Subscribe below.

If you're bidding one of these, we can turn the solicitation into a full AI bid brief — bonds, prevailing wage, owner-furnished equipment, submittal windows, and the rest — at deadfront.ai; see real example briefs for how they read.