The Plans and Standards Section consists of the Plan Review Engineers and the Standard Drawing Engineers. The Plan Review Engineers receive plans from the designers and are reviewed for constructability to ensure that they comply with NCDOT Standard Standards. The Standard Drawing Engineers maintain the Roadway Standard Drawings and prepare special detail designs and drawings to cover unique situations not covered by the Roadway Standard Drawings. When plan checking is complete, the plans are sent to the Proposal and Contracts Section.

The Proposals and Contracts Section includes the Provisions Engineers, Specifications Engineer and Contract Time Engineers. The Provisions Engineers review the plans for compliance with the NCDOT Standard Specifications for Roads and Structures; incorporating provisions for special items and construction methods not covered by the Specifications Book into the proposal. They are responsible for the contents of the proposal for each project let. The Specification Engineer is responsible for revising and publishing the Specifications Book. The Contract Time Engineers are responsible for setting contract times on all projects. After the proposal is complete, the plans and proposal are sent to Engineer Estimates.

The Estimating Section includes Preliminary Estimates Engineers, the Engineer's Estimate Engineers and support for bid lettings. The Estimating Engineers prepare the official engineer's estimate for each contract, based on the plans, proposal and unique conditions to the specific project. The Preliminary Estimates Engineers prepare estimate for the TIP book. After the Engineers Estimates is complete, the Proposals and Contracts Unit reviews again and has the final proposal completed. The proposal, the plans, and contract go to the Records and Documents Unit.