Northwest Public-Works Bid Digest: Week of September 14, 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, plant electrical and controls, 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 week it's five solid lines — two Tacoma Power packages, a Cowlitz County pump-station install, an Oregon substation, and a run of Mason County PUD material buys.

It's a procurement-heavy board this week: two utility transformer buys, a substation build, switchgear, and distribution transformers, plus one construction contract. We ran the usual WA/OR/ID/MT portals, and nothing electrical or utility with a live future date checked out against the owner's page in Idaho or Montana; the Idaho Falls Power transformer buys are live but sit behind QuestCDN with no due date we could confirm on a public page, so they're left off. Two short-fuse notes: Tacoma's wood-pole services close Tuesday, September 15, and two of the Mason PUD packages close Wednesday, September 16 — if you're not already on those, treat them as reference. 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
Mayfield Bank 2 GSU Transformer (PT26-0110F)	Tacoma Power	Silver Creek, WA	Oct 6, 2026, 11:00 AM PT
Shadow Mountain Water Main & Booster Pump Station (2026-0040-01)	Cowlitz County Public Works	Cowlitz County, WA	Sep 28, 2026, 1:30 PM PT
Columbia Heights Substation (ITB)	Northern Wasco County PUD	The Dalles, OR	Oct 13, 2026, 2:00 PM PT
Substation Power Transformer (M2-2026)	Mason County PUD No. 3	Mason County, WA	Oct 21, 2026, 3:00 PM PT

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

Tacoma Power's Transmission & Distribution division has its wood-pole services contract out — inspection of wood utility poles, testing, and treatment of decay across the system. It's a services/maintenance package aimed at crews that run pole inspection and groundline treatment rather than at line-construction bidders, and it's the same solicitation that carried over from last week, so it's down to its last day.

• Due: Tuesday, September 15, 2026, 11:00 AM PT, spec PT26-0181F. Estimated value ~$2,150,000 over four years.
• Pre-bid: A virtual pre-bid meeting over Microsoft Teams is referenced in the solicitation's Calendar of Events (around page 11); it isn't flagged mandatory, but confirm the date and dial-in in the documents.
• 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: With bids due tomorrow this is reference for most crews, but if you're pricing it, confirm the prequalification requirement first — Tacoma Power maintains a prequalified list for distribution, transmission, and substation work. As a multi-year, unit-priced maintenance contract, read for the estimated annual pole counts, the treatment spec and any warranty on treated poles, and how mobilization and travel get paid. Confirm bid-security and performance-bond percentages, Washington prevailing wage (L&I intent/affidavit filing), and traffic-control constraints for poles in occupied right-of-way.

Mayfield Bank 2 GSU Transformer (PT26-0110F) — Tacoma Power

This one's a material procurement, not a construction job — Tacoma Power is soliciting for a three-phase 13.8/240 kV, 38.4/51.2/64 MVA generator step-up (GSU) transformer with an isolated-phase bus connection for Bank 2 at the Mayfield Hydroelectric Project. It's a fit for transformer manufacturers and their reps, and for the specialty crews that handle GSU delivery, setting, and bus tie-in, rather than for general bidders. The solicitation lists an estimated value around $3.7 million.

• Due: Tuesday, October 6, 2026, 11:00 AM PT, spec PT26-0110F.
• Pre-proposal meeting: September 9, 2026, 11:00 AM PDT at the Mayfield Hydroelectric Project, 253 Hydro Lane, Silver Creek, WA — listed as non-mandatory, and now past, so work from the documents and the addenda.
• Scope: Furnish a three-phase 13.8/240 kV, 38.4/51.2/64 MVA generator step-up transformer and isolated-phase bus connection.
• Source: City of Tacoma request for proposals PT26-0110F

Worth checking: On a GSU buy the long-lead schedule is the whole game, so read for the required delivery date and any liquidated damages tied to it before you price it. Nail down the tap configuration, impedance and BIL, cooling stages (the 38.4/51.2/64 MVA rating is your ONAN/ONAF/ONAF steps), and whether the isolated-phase bus, bushings, and any monitoring are in the supply scope or by others. Confirm factory and field test requirements, who owns offloading and setting at a hydro site with tight access, and the bonding, warranty term, and payment/retention structure for a multi-month order.

Shadow Mountain Water Main & Booster Pump Station (2026-0040-01) — Cowlitz County Public Works

Cowlitz County Public Works has the installation side of its Shadow Mountain water system out as a construction contract: roughly 62 linear feet of 12-inch water main, about 1,050 feet of 8-inch main, and installation of the booster pump station. The packaged-station supply half of this system (bid 2026-0038-01) closed the week before last, so this is the piece that's still open — and for an electrical/controls sub it's where the pump-station wiring, the drive and PLC hookup, and the site power and telemetry live.

• Due: Monday, September 28, 2026, 1:30 PM PT, listed under bid 2026-0040-01.
• Scope: Construct ~62 lf of 12-inch and ~1,050 lf of 8-inch water main and install the booster pump station.
• Source: Cowlitz County bidding opportunities

Worth checking: This is a public-works construction contract, so expect Washington prevailing wage (L&I intent/affidavit filings) and a bid-security/performance-bond requirement — verify the percentages. Read the coordination language between this contract and the packaged-station supply that was bid separately: who receives, sets, and warrants the station, and where your install scope picks up. On the electrical side, pin down the service point and utility coordination, controls/telemetry termination responsibility, and startup and commissioning. Confirm the substantial-completion date and whether a pre-bid walk is scheduled.

Columbia Heights Substation (ITB) — Northern Wasco County PUD

Northern Wasco County PUD, out of The Dalles, has its Columbia Heights substation project out for bid — a substation build, which for an electrical contractor means the full package of civil, structural, grounding, and equipment-setting work rather than a material buy. The District doesn't keep its own plan-holder list; documents and addenda live on OregonBuys, so register there before you start.

• Due: Tuesday, October 13, 2026, 2:00 PM PT.
• Scope: Construction of the Columbia Heights substation (electrical infrastructure).
• Source: Northern Wasco County PUD RFPs/ITBs

Worth checking: On a substation build the first question is the owner/contractor split on major equipment — is the power transformer, are the breakers and switchgear PUD-furnished or in your scope — and what that does to your schedule and your risk on long-lead gear. Read for the grounding-grid spec and testing, control-building and relay/SCADA scope, and site civil (grading, containment, fencing). Confirm Oregon prevailing wage (BOLI), bid-bond and performance-bond percentages, any prequalification, and the energization milestone with its liquidated damages. Get the addenda off OregonBuys before you price.

Substation Power Transformer (M2-2026) — Mason County PUD No. 3

Mason County PUD No. 3 in Shelton has a cluster of electrical material buys open right now. The headline for the estimator with runway is the substation power transformer, but there are two more on a short fuse this week worth knowing about.

• Due: Wednesday, October 21, 2026, 3:00 PM PT, bid M2-2026 (Substation Power Transformer).
• Also open, short fuse: M3-2026 Distribution Transformers, due Wednesday, September 16, 2026, 3:00 PM PT; and M4-2026 Switchgear Cabinet, due Wednesday, September 16, 2026, 4:00 PM PT. Both close this week — reference for most, live if you're already positioned.
• Scope: Utility material procurement — a substation power transformer (M2), distribution transformers (M3), and a switchgear cabinet (M4).
• Source: Mason County PUD No. 3 RFPs & Bids

Worth checking: These are supply contracts, so the pivot is the technical spec and the delivery date, not labor. On the substation transformer (M2), read the ratings, taps, impedance, BIL, cooling stages, and any efficiency/loss-evaluation formula the PUD uses to score bids — loss evaluation can swing an award more than sticker price. Confirm the required delivery window and any liquidated damages, factory test and witness requirements, and the warranty term. For the distribution transformers and switchgear closing this week, check quantity, the configuration list, DOE efficiency compliance, and whether staged delivery is allowed.

Before You Chase These

Five verified lines this week — two Tacoma Power buys, a Cowlitz County install, an Oregon substation, and the Mason PUD material cluster — with nothing we could verify in Idaho or Montana. It's a procurement-heavy stretch: transformer and switchgear buys where the loss-evaluation math and the delivery date matter more than crew rates, one substation build, and one pump-station install. The short fuses are the Tacoma wood-pole services (Tuesday) and two Mason PUD packages (Wednesday); the substation and the GSU transformer give you real runway into October.

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.

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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.