TxDOT win margin analysis: the margin you left on bids you won
The curse of winning is the gap between what you won a project for and what the second-place bidder was actually willing to pay, margin that didn't need to be left behind. Enter your company name below to see exactly where it happened on your own wins.
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Margin left on the table: your won bids summary
Bids
24
Won bids
1
Win rate %
4.20%
Won bid value
$123,539,232.30
Total margin left, $
$7,515,942.00
Margin left, % of won value
6.10%
Avg margin left per project
$7,515,942.00
Top project margin left
$7,515,942.00
You're winning 4.20% of your TxDOT bids, 1 out of 24 submitted, worth $123,539,232.30 in total. Even on the ones you won, you left $7,515,942.00 on the table, 6.10% of what you actually bid. On won bids, there is still margin being priced away that didn't need to go.
Three ways to see the margin you left behind
Three ways to look closer: your biggest project gaps, your most underpriced bid items, and your mobilization pricing floor.
Won projects: margins left on Top 5 projects
Your five biggest wins, ranked by how much margin was left on each one specifically. Your top single gap is $7,515,942.00, on IH 35E AT MAYHILL ROAD., worth knowing whether that was a deliberate call to buy the job or a pricing model worth a second look before it happens again.
Won projects (Top 5)
| CSJ | Project | Let date | Your bid | 2nd lowest | Margin left | Win margin % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0196-01-109 | IH 35E AT MAYHILL ROAD. | 2025-06-05 | $123,539,232.30 | $131,055,174.43 | $7,515,942.00 | 6.10% |
Want every bid item gap on your next bid flagged automatically? → Request POC access
Bid item margin benchmarking: your top items against the 2nd-lowest bidder
Your most frequent bid items, unit prices compared against what the 2nd-lowest bidder charged on the same projects you won. 5 items showing up below that runner-up price isn't 5 coincidences, it's a pattern, a baked-in estimating assumption worth revisiting once rather than re-losing the same margin on every future bid that uses it.
Bid item pricing benchmarks (Top 5)
| Bid item | Description | Your median | 2nd-lowest bidder median (won projects) | Variance | Appearances | Total qty | Dollar impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 500-7001 | MOBILIZATION (500-7001) | $11,500,000.00 | $13,100,000.00 | -12.20% | 1 | 1.00 | $1,600,000.00 |
| 508-7001 | CONSTRUCTING DETOURS (508-7001) | $104.63 | $110.00 | -4.90% | 1 | 41,293.00 | $221,743.41 |
| 260-7005 | LIME (COM OR QK)(SLURRY) (260-7005) | $250.00 | $293.00 | -14.70% | 1 | 4,975.00 | $213,925.00 |
| 512-7029 | PORT CTB (MOVE)(F-SHAPE)(TY 1) (512-7029) | $4.41 | $9.00 | -51.00% | 1 | 42,300.00 | $194,157.00 |
| 450-7024 | RAIL (TY SSTR) (450-7024) | $57.30 | $65.25 | -12.20% | 1 | 11,844.60 | $94,164.57 |
Want this benchmark run automatically on every bid item before you price your next bid? → Request POC access
Mobilization pricing benchmark: margins left on Top 5 projects
Mobilization is priced by judgment, not takeoff, and it's consistently the most underpriced item industry-wide. On your own won projects, you're running 12.20% below what the 2nd-lowest bidder charged for mobilization, across 1 projects, $1,600,000.00 left on the table. Worth a five-minute look at how that number gets set before your next bid, since there's no measured quantity forcing it to be right.
Mobilization across Project Value range
| Project value range | Your median | 2nd-lowest bidder median (won projects) | Projects |
|---|---|---|---|
| over $30M | $11,500,000.00 | $13,100,000.00 | 1 |
Want your mobilization floor checked against the runner-up on every bid, automatically? → Request POC access
Mobilization across Won Projects (Top 5)
| CSJ | Project | Project value range | District | Your mob | 2nd lowest | Margin left |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0196-01-109 | IH 35E AT MAYHILL ROAD. ($144M) | over $30M | Dallas | $11,500,000.00 | $13,100,000.00 | $1,600,000.00 |
Want your mobilization floor checked against the runner-up on every bid, automatically? → Request POC access
Frequently asked questions
- What is the "curse of winning" in TxDOT bidding?
- It's the gap between what you won a project for and what the second-place bidder was actually willing to pay, margin that didn't need to be left behind, visible only once you analyze your won bids at the bid item level.
- Why do contractors leave margin on the table even on won bids?
- A bid can win by a wider margin than necessary on specific items without anyone noticing, since the bid still comes in competitive overall. Reviewing wins at the bid item level, not just the project total, is what surfaces it.
- How is "margin left" calculated on a won bid?
- It's the dollar difference between your winning price and the second-lowest bid, computed at the project level, broken down by individual bid item, and shown as a percentage of what you actually bid, so you can compare across projects of very different sizes.
- Why does my win rate matter alongside my margin left?
- Win rate on its own only tells you how often you're winning. Paired with margin left, it tells you whether you're winning efficiently, a high win rate with a lot of margin left behind means you didn't need to price that aggressively to still come out on top.
- What is bid item margin benchmarking?
- It compares your unit pricing on your most frequently used bid items against what the 2nd-lowest bidder charged on the same projects you won, surfacing items where you're systematically pricing below that runner-up figure, not as a one-off, but as a repeated pattern.
- What counts as pricing below the runner-up, and is it always a mistake?
- It means your median unit price on an item, across your own wins, is lower than the median price the 2nd-lowest bidder charged for that same item on those same projects. It's not automatically a mistake, sometimes it's a deliberate strategy, buying down one item to win on total price while recovering margin elsewhere. The distinction is whether it's a one-time, intentional call or a pattern repeating across wins without anyone deciding it should.
- Why is mobilization pricing analyzed separately from other bid items?
- Mobilization is a lump-sum item priced entirely by judgment, not takeoff, and it's consistently the most underpriced item industry-wide. Isolating it shows your specific floor against what the runner-up bid on your own projects and what it's costing you.
- Can I narrow this to my district or county, and how far back does the data go?
- Yes. State and county filters narrow the analysis to your local market, since bid item pricing and typical margins can vary meaningfully by district. Data covers up to 24 months by default, adjustable to a shorter window for more recent results only.
- Does this tell me what to actually change before my next bid?
- It shows you where past wins left margin behind, by project and by bid item, so you can price your next comparable bid with that pattern already accounted for. Start with mobilization if it's flagged below the runner-up's price, then check whether any bid item shows the same pattern across more than one win, that's a template assumption worth fixing once. The pricing decision itself stays yours.
- Is Win Margin Analysis free to use?
- Yes, available now as a free tool, no account required.