E.R. Snell Contractor, Inc. and ten other contractors applied for an injunction against the Georgia Department of Transportation to prevent the agency from giving copies of certain documents to Douglas Asphalt Company in response to its Open Records Act request. The contractors contended that the documents, which the companies submitted to the DOT pursuant to their roadway paving contracts, contained trade secrets and thus were exempt from the Act. Douglas Asphalt was granted permission to intervene, and objected to the application. Following a bench trial, the trial court permanently enjoined the DOT from giving unredacted copies of the documents to Douglas Asphalt, specifying which information was to be redacted. For the reasons that follow, we affirm. As the trial court found, the asphalt industry is highly competitive, with profit margins from one to five percent. Material costs make up the largest portion of overall costs, and thus the companies expend significant resources tweaking their asphalt formulas to reduce those costs, some through their own full-time state-certified laboratory technicians and others through outsourcing. The cost for material per ton can vary a great deal, depending on the mix design. Asphalt is composed of aggregate or crushed stone, liquid asphalt, and minor additives such as lime, which is an anti-stripping agent, and the liquid asphalt, which is a form of crude oil, is the most costly ingredient. Some companies use recycled asphalt product RAP as a component, which lowers the amount of liquid asphalt required and thus lowers the material costs. Other factors affecting cost are the source locations, and the porosity, size, and amount of the aggregate.
The Georgia DOT establishes the property specifications of the finished asphalt product, and contractors submit proposed design mix formulas to the DOT for approval before bidding on a job. Once those formulas are approved, they are kept on file and the contractor can refer to them when it bids on a project. All DOT projects are bid in a closed process, so that no one knows the amount anyone else is bidding, and the lowest bid is awarded the job. Once it is awarded a contract, the contractor submits a Job Mix Formula for DOT approval before beginning the job, based on the previously approved formula, and includes the percentages and sources of each material.
