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Utah Gov. Gary Herbert says he continues to have full faith in the Utah Department of Transportation, despite a second controversy involving a road contract won by a company with powerful political backing.

News organizations earlier this week reported that HeatWurx, a company with ties to two state senators, won a bid for cold-weather pothole repair after state highway officials wrote specifications that eliminated most of its competition. That contract has paid only $6,900 this year mostly for emergency work but could be worth more depending on the amount of work done.

And last year, Provo River Constructors won a $1.1 billion contract to rebuild Interstate 15 in Utah County after its principals had given $87,500 to the re-election campaign of Herbert. A losing bidder claimed UDOT tweaked bid scoring to rob it of that contract by one point — and UDOT paid $13 million to settle its claims. A state audit into the situation said it couldn't definitively conclude whether UDOT had acted fairly.

In the newest controversy, UDOT specifications allowed only companies that used electric infrared technology like HeatWurx to bid for the cold-weather pothole repair.

After stories appeared, UDOT said it will also allow companies that use propane technology to bid when the current contract ends later this summer.

"Avoiding the appearance of evil, I think that is the motivation behind UDOT rewriting their bid requirements," Herbert told The Salt Lake Tribune during a visit to Washington, D.C., on Thursday. He said the decision of UDOT to rewrite the bid requirements is "indicative of the fact that they are trying to represent taxpayers in an appropriate and efficient way."

He also touted UDOT Executive Director John Njord and his team "as maybe as good as it gets in the country."

The accountant for HeatWurx is state Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo. Its lawyer is Sen. John Valentine, R-Orem. HeatWurx recently planned to start an affiliated company to manufacture equipment, and initial incorporation papers listed Bramble as president and Valentine as general counsel. However, the two lawmakers say the company never started business because the founder, Richard Giles, sold his patents.

Bramble said that at Giles' request, he called UDOT Deputy Director Carlos Braceras — who gave Giles information about how to ask the UDOT maintenance division to look at his new technology. Bramble said he put no pressure on UDOT — a claim confirmed by the department.

Herbert on Thursday also supported Bramble and Valentine.

"I think the situation with Senator Bramble and Senator Valentine was more of an introduction," Herbert said. "I think their motivation was to find better ways to build roads and utilize the taxpayers' money as efficiently as possible."