Northwest Public-Works Bid Digest: Week of September 28, 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 or bid documents, 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 — four utility equipment buys and one substation build.

It's another procurement-heavy board, and the news this week is two fresh Cowlitz PUD packages: a four-unit power transformer supply and the Swift No. 2 13.8kV switchgear equipment buy, both just advertised. Those join three carryovers still open from prior weeks — the Mayfield GSU, Columbia Heights, and the Mason M2 transformer. We ran the usual WA/OR/ID/MT portals; nothing electrical or utility with a live future date checked out against an owner's own page in Idaho or Montana this week, so we've left those states off rather than pad the list. Here's what's open.

This Week at a Glance

Project	Agency	Location	Bid Due
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	Shelton, WA	Oct 21, 2026, 3:00 PM PT
Swift No. 2 13.8kV Switchgear — Equipment (SW195)	Cowlitz PUD	Cowlitz County, WA	Oct 29, 2026, 2:30 PM PT
Power Transformer Supply (UC1859)	Cowlitz PUD	Longview, WA	Dec 1, 2026, 2:00 PM PT

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

Tacoma Power is soliciting 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. This is 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 at the Mayfield Hydroelectric Project, 253 Hydro Lane, Silver Creek, WA — now past, so work from the documents and any 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.

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 earlier this month (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: 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 no-load and load losses can move an award more than the sticker price. 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.

Swift No. 2 13.8kV Switchgear — Equipment Procurement (SW195) — Cowlitz PUD

New this week. Cowlitz PUD is buying the equipment for the 13.8kV breaker reconfiguration at its Swift No. 2 Hydroelectric Project: 15kV switchgear, a 13.5kV–480V station-service transformer, and 480V station-service switchgear, all designed, fabricated, and delivered per the project specifications (HDR is the engineer of record). This is an equipment-supply package, so it's aimed at switchgear manufacturers and their reps rather than field crews — though the install will follow separately.

• Due: Sealed bids before 2:30 PM PT, Thursday, October 29, 2026, marked "Sealed Bid – Swift No. 2 13.8kV Switchgear Upgrades – Equipment Procurement, Contract SW195."
• Intent to bid: Email Andrew Davis (adavis@cowlitzpud.org) of your intent to bid by October 2, 2026 — addenda go only to bidders who submit intent.
• Scope: Design, fabricate, and deliver 15kV switchgear, a 13.5kV–480V station-service transformer, and 480V station-service switchgear.
• Source: Cowlitz PUD Bid Documents

Worth checking: The intent-to-bid step is the trap here — if you don't email Andrew Davis by October 2 you won't receive addenda, and on a design-fabricate-deliver package the addenda tend to move the ratings and terminations. Bid security is 5% (bid bond, cashier's, or certified check). Read the single-line and the interface details closely: bus ratings, interrupting duty, relay/protection scheme, and where your equipment terminations pick up against the existing 13.8kV work at Swift No. 2. Confirm the delivery date and any liquidated damages, factory test and witness requirements, and how a design-build supply contract handles submittal review and approval before release to fabrication.

Power Transformer Supply (UC1859) — Cowlitz PUD

Also new this week, and the one with the longest runway. Cowlitz PUD is taking sealed bids on the supply of four three-phase power transformers under Contract UC1859 — a straight material-supply buy, delivery only, for transformer manufacturers and their reps.

• Due: Sealed bids before 2:00 PM PT, Tuesday, December 1, 2026, marked "Sealed Bid – Power Transformer Supply, Contract UC1859," publicly opened.
• Scope: Supply and deliver four three-phase power transformers per the District's specifications. Contact Mike Larsen, (360) 501-9524, mlarsen@cowlitzpud.org.
• Source: Cowlitz PUD Bid Documents

Worth checking: Bid security is 5% (bid bond, cashier's, or certified check), and the PUD notes it may award to more than one vendor — so read whether you can bid a partial quantity and how a split award is scored. On four units the delivery schedule and any price-adjustment or escalation terms carry the number; read the Payment Terms, Pricing & Price Adjustment section against your lead times. Check the ratings, taps, impedance, BIL, and cooling per unit, confirm whether losses are capitalized in the evaluation, and pin down the delivery window, DOE efficiency compliance, and the warranty term. Addenda post to the bid-documents page no later than one week before the due date, so check back late November.

Before You Chase These

Five verified lines this week — four utility equipment buys (Mayfield GSU, Mason M2, and Cowlitz's SW195 switchgear and UC1859 transformers) and one substation build (Columbia Heights) — with nothing we could verify in Idaho or Montana. On the supply packages the loss-evaluation math and the delivery date matter more than crew rates; Columbia Heights is where labor, coordination, and the owner-furnished-equipment split actually drive the number. The near-term dates are Mayfield on October 6 and Columbia Heights on October 13; Cowlitz SW195 carries an October 2 intent-to-bid step you can't miss, and the Mason M2 and Cowlitz UC1859 buys give you runway into late October and December.

Dates and times above were verified against each owner's own solicitation page or bid documents 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.