ARDOT's prequalified list: 270 entries, 150 of them from outside Arkansas

Firms that want to bid as prime contractors on Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) highway jobs must first be prequalified. ARDOT's Program Management Division publishes a Prequalified Contractors Mailing List. The edition dated Oct. 6, 2026 runs nine pages and contains 270 entries with mailing addresses.

Who is on it

120 entries have Arkansas addresses, and 150 are from other states. The largest out-of-state groups are:

• TN: 21
• MO: 21
• OK: 14
• FL: 13
• TX: 10
• LA: 8
• KS: 8
• MS: 7

In all, the list has addresses in 33 states, as far away as California and Washington. Fifteen states, including Maine, New Hampshire, Idaho and Arizona, have a single entry each. Neighboring states account for many of the rest: Tennessee, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi together have 81 entries.

Fifty-five of the Arkansas entries are county governments, such as Baxter County and Bradley County. That leaves 65 Arkansas businesses, and our directory starts with them. Each listing links to ARDOT's list.

Where the Arkansas firms are

By ARDOT district, using each firm's mailing address:

• District 6 (Little Rock): 14
• District 8 (Russellville): 12
• District 2 (Pine Bluff): 8
• District 4 (Fort Smith): 7
• District 5 (Batesville): 6
• District 9 (Harrison): 5
• District 3 (Hope): 4
• District 10 (Paragould): 4
• District 7 (Camden): 3
• District 1 (Wynne): 2

By county, the leaders are:

• Pulaski: 9
• Jefferson: 6
• Faulkner: 4
• Saline: 3
• Craighead: 3
• Yell: 3

Pulaski County has the most firms (9), followed by Jefferson (6) and Faulkner (4). A firm's mailing address may be a post office box, so the district shows where the office mail goes, not where crews work.

How prequalification works

Contractors apply with ARDOT's Prequalification Questionnaire, available under Forms on the department's Construction Contractor Information page. ARDOT began using a new version on March 1, 2023, and said then that contractors could no longer substitute information from the Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board for the documents the questionnaire asks for. Failing to submit the current questionnaire may delay a contractor's approval or renewal.

Prequalification is separate from state licensing. The Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board says a commercial license is needed for work of $50,000 or more on a commercial project, which it defines as any project that is not a single-family residence. Subcontractors working for a properly licensed contractor can work under a registration certificate instead of a full license.

Prequalified firms on the Nov. 4 letting

The list overlaps heavily with the firms holding proposals for ARDOT's current lettings. Of the 41 firms on the proposal holder lists for the Nov. 4 and Jan. 20 lettings, 39 appear on the Oct. 6 list by name, including out-of-state firms from Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Kansas. The other two may be listed under a different name or may have qualified after the list was printed.

For a subcontractor, the overlap is useful: the prequalified list is effectively the roster of firms that can bid ARDOT work as primes, and the proposal holder lists show which of them are looking at a particular job.

On the Nov. 4 letting, 18 of the 65 Arkansas businesses on the list hold at least one proposal, according to ARDOT's Oct. 28 proposal holder lists.

What the list does not show

The mailing list gives names, mailing addresses, and phone and fax numbers. It does not show a firm's work classes or capacity. Subcontractors are not on it because ARDOT prequalifies prime bidders. The Contractors Licensing Board's roster of licensed firms was not available for automated download, so Arkansas subcontractors and specialty firms are not yet in our directory. Any Arkansas contractor can add a free listing.