Northwest Public-Works Bid Digest: Week of September 21, 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 verified lines — a run of transformer buys, one substation build, and one pump-station install.

It's another procurement-heavy board: three utility transformer buys, a substation build, and a booster pump-station 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 this week — the Idaho Falls Power substation-transformer buy (IFP 26-22) is live but sits behind QuestCDN with no due date we could confirm on a public page, so it's left off, same as prior weeks. One short-fuse note: Kittitas PUD's transformer bid closes Thursday, September 24 — if you're not already on it, treat it as reference. Here's what's open.

This Week at a Glance

Project	Agency	Location	Bid Due
2026 Power Transformer Bid	Kittitas PUD	Ellensburg, WA	Sep 24, 2026, 12:00 PM PT
Shadow Mountain Water Main & Booster Pump Station (Bid 496)	Cowlitz County Public Works	Cowlitz County, WA	Sep 28, 2026, 1:30 PM PT
Mayfield Bank 2 GSU Transformer (PT26-0110F)	Tacoma Power	Silver Creek, WA	Oct 6, 2026, 11:00 AM 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

2026 Power Transformer Bid — Kittitas PUD

Kittitas PUD in Ellensburg is taking sealed bids on its 2026 power transformer buy — a utility material procurement rather than a construction job, so it's a fit for transformer manufacturers and their reps, not line crews. It's the last of a set of District material buys this year (a circuit switcher, a voltage regulator, and an earlier April transformer package have all closed), and it's the only one still open.

• Due: Thursday, September 24, 2026, 12:00 PM (noon). Contact Maddi Triggs, (509) 260-2300 ext 805 or bids@kittitaspud.com.
• Scope: Utility material procurement — 2026 power/distribution transformers per the District's bid documents.
• Source: Kittitas PUD Bid Opportunities

Worth checking: With bids due Thursday this is reference for most, but if you're pricing it, it's a supply contract — the technical spec and the delivery date carry it, not labor. Read the ratings, taps, impedance, BIL, and cooling stages against your standard line, and check whether the District scores bids with a loss-evaluation formula; capitalized no-load and load losses can swing an award more than the sticker. Confirm the delivery window, any liquidated damages, DOE efficiency compliance, and the warranty term before you commit a price.

Shadow Mountain Water Main & Booster Pump Station (Bid 496) — 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 was bid and closed separately (the Shadow Mountain Pump Station bid closed September 8), so this is the construction 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 496.
• 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 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.

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

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. Like the Kittitas and Mason buys, it's a material procurement — a fit for transformer manufacturers and their reps, and for the specialty crews that handle GSU delivery, setting, and bus tie-in. 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 and warranty term for a multi-month order.

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 and watch for addenda on your own.

• 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 — are the power transformer, 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 its substation power transformer buy still open after two companion material packages closed last week (M3-2026 Distribution Transformers and M4-2026 Switchgear Cabinet both closed September 16). This is the one with runway — a supply contract for a single substation-class transformer.

• Due: Wednesday, October 21, 2026, 3:00 PM PT, bid M2-2026.
• Scope: Utility material procurement — a substation power transformer per the District's specification.
• Source: Mason County PUD No. 3 RFPs & Bids

Worth checking: As with the Kittitas and Mayfield buys, this is a supply contract, so the pivot is the technical spec and the delivery date, not labor. Read the ratings, taps, impedance, BIL, and cooling stages, and confirm whether the PUD scores bids with a loss-evaluation formula — capitalized losses can move an award. Nail down the required delivery window and any liquidated damages, factory-test requirements, and the warranty term. Vendors bid PUD 3 work through the MRSC Rosters database, so make sure you're registered and have selected Mason County PUD No. 3 before the deadline.

Before You Chase These

Five verified lines this week — three transformer buys (Kittitas, Mayfield, Mason M2), one substation build (Columbia Heights), and one pump-station install (Shadow Mountain) — with nothing we could verify in Idaho or Montana. On the transformer packages the loss-evaluation math and the delivery date matter more than crew rates; the substation and the pump station are where labor, coordination, and the owner-furnished-equipment split actually drive the number. The short fuse is Kittitas on Thursday; Shadow Mountain closes the following Monday, and the Mayfield GSU, Columbia Heights, and Mason M2 give you 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.