February 20, 2026
Orange Barrel season is just around the corner, and we’re busy laying the groundwork for a smoother spring! In this edition, you’ll find system updates targeted at report updates, payment-estimate performance, and calculation accuracy - all designed to make your APCM days a little easier. Grab a coffee, take five, and let’s dive in.
Announcements
Please be advised that AASHTOWare Project will be offline starting at 3:00 PM on Friday, February 27th, and will remain unavailable through Sunday until early Monday morning. This downtime is necessary to complete the upgrade to version 5.04.
Reports
- Item History To Date Report – Various fields and labels were updated on the report as requested from field offices.
System Configurations
- Payment Estimate Performance – A hotfix was applied to address some computations used in the creation of estimates. With this fix in place, estimates should generate more quickly.
- Rounding Fix – The estimate calculation process was updated to handle values beyond two decimal places that in some cases caused rounding issues.
Did you know?...
Proposal, Contract, and Project Line Numbers - Ever wonder why AASHTOWare shows two different types of line numbers? Here’s the breakdown:
- Contract Line Number (a.k.a. Proposal Line Number)
Contract Line Number and Proposal Line Number refer to the same thing. These are generated at the contract level and include all items across all projects and categories in that contract. They appear on screens like the Contract Items – General tab, where items are rolled up without duplicates at the contract level. These numbers are sequential (e.g., 5, 10, 15…) and represent the entire contract’s item list.
- Project Line Number
Generated at the project level, ensuring no duplicates within that project. Found on tabs like Contract Project Items, where items are grouped by project and category. Important: Project line numbers may match contract line numbers when there’s only one project, but they are not the same thing. On large contracts with multiple projects, the contract line number will often NOT match the project line number.
Key Difference: Both are created the same way and function similarly, but they organize items at different levels—contract vs. project. This helps keep things clear when contracts include multiple projects (e.g., road work vs. bridge work) or categories. If you see “Line Number” on the General tab, assume it’s the contract line number. If you’re working within a project view, it’s likely the project line number. Always confirm which level you’re on before referencing line numbers!
To view previous news articles, visit the Construction Technology News Archive.
