MoDOT Selling Surplus Items Online

JEFFERSON CITY – The Missouri Department of Transportation is using a new tool to recoup taxpayers’ money by auctioning surplus equipment on www.GovDeals.com.  

The Web site allows government agencies to sell surplus items online. Previously, MoDOT sold surplus equipment through a sealed bid process.  Equipment sales were advertised in the newspaper, and sealed bids were received through the mail. MoDOT auctions on GovDeals have been more successful, said Frankie Ryan, senior procurement specialist.

“We are getting more bidders and better prices, and we are opening the process up to more people than the traditional sealed bids would have reached,” Ryan said.

So far, MoDOT auctions have included office equipment, computers, miscellaneous building supplies and furniture.  The public can bid on items by visiting MoDOT’s Web site at www.modot.org or registering at www.GovDeals.com.  Registration is free. 

MoDOT’s fleet division also uses www.GovDeals.com to sell some of the agency’s large equipment, but also has set up its own Web site for selling surplus items.  Potential buyers can visit www.modot.org/business/surplus to find things such as backhoes, snowplows, tractors and trailers.

Unlike GovDeals, auctions are not held on the Web site.  Instead, equipment for sale is posted with an asking price and information on how to view and purchase the item.  Surplus equipment posted on the site is initially offered only to cities and counties.  However, if items have not sold after a few weeks, they are made available to the general public.   

Previously, the fleet division had tried a variety of ways to sell excess equipment including a sealed bids process and auctions.

Go to MoDOT's GovDeals page.

Go to MoDOT's Surplus Sales page.