Special accounts are accounts that are set up to cover costs of various items of work or the supply of materials or labor that are not provided for in the estimate as ordinary bid items. Other special accounts may cover the participation in the contract by other entities for work not funded by TxDOT. Some examples of special accounts are State Force Account Work, Material Furnished by the State, Railroad Force Account, and Contractor Force Account. The project estimate must include the special account number, a brief description of the item of work, and an estimated cost. The unit of a special account is usually lump sum, and the price should be determined by consulting with maintenance personnel, from past experience, or the best available information and method depending on the item of the account.

A Safety Contingency Contractor Force Account is required on all projects

. See for applicable Safety Contingency Force Account notes that must be included in all project’s General Notes. Additionally, an

Erosion Control Maintenance Force Account is also required

, and a Law Enforcement Force Account is optional.

Similar to Participating/Non-participating Items, special accounts which are not direct bid items, but which are used to account for certain project costs (such as railroad flagging, state-furnished traffic signal controllers, off duty patrol officer, etc.) may or may not be federally participating.

Those special accounts that are not federally participating must be distinguished from those that are on the Engineer’s Estimate.

Refer to the for additional information on how to identify non-participating accounts in the Engineer’s Estimate.

Force Accounts are a type of special account. Force account work in general is either additional work over and above the work described by the standard bid items or work that will be done by work forces other than the contractor. This work may be ordered, performed, accepted, and reimbursed on a Force Account basis. If a portion of the project is state funded, then a non-participating Force Account is required.

Railroad force account work

- Railroad Force Account Work is work that will be done by a railroad company during the construction of a project. This includes items such as signal relocation, planking work, and flagging at railroad crossings that will be done by railroad personnel. The RRD Division will assist the District with developing the unit cost for the force account based on project-specific information.

Contractor force account work

- Contractor Force Account Work is potential work that might be done by the contractor, and which has not been estimated and included as a bid item but might be required on the project. An example is temporary erosion, sediment and water pollution control on a project such as an asphaltic concrete pavement overlay. DES will assist the District with developing the unit cost for the force account.

Material furnished by the State is another type of special account that covers materials used on the project but furnished by the State. An example of materials furnished by the State are traffic signal controllers and traffic paint. Materials furnished by the State usually include those materials that are difficult to obtain on the open market, small quantities and expensive, or what the State prefers to use and have in stock. If material is provided on low bid construction, it is required to have a Public Interest Finding. This justification needs to be that it is in the public's best interest to furnish that material rather than low-bid it.

Special accounts should be established in the Engineer’s Estimate so the state maintenance forces, or other agencies can properly account for their work and charge to the project. Special accounts are identified in the Engineer’s Estimate by special account code numbers.

Refer to the for additional information on how to add special accounts to the Engineer’s Estimate.