Fayek, A (1998) Competitive bidding strategy model and software system for bid preparation. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 124(1), pp. 1-10. ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
This paper presents a competitive bidding strategy model for use in setting a margin (markup) for civil engineering and building construction projects. The goal of this model is to help a company to achieve its objectives in bidding. The model provides more than 90 factors that may influence the choice of margin size, and it enables the decision-maker to assess the impact of those that are relevant to his or her bid situation. The use of fuzzy set theory allows assessments to be made in qualitative and approximate terms, which suit the subjective nature of the margin-size decision. The model has been implemented in the form of a prototype software system named PRESTTO, which is described. One conclusion of this paper is that fuzzy set theory can be applied successfully to model the margin-size decision. A second conclusion is that use of this competitive bidding strategy model can improve the quality of the decision-making process used in setting a margin and can help contractors to gain a competitive edge in bidding. The competitive bidding strategy model has been validated with actual project bids collected from a survey of the Australian construction industry; validation will be described in a companion paper.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Index terms: | validation, bid preparation, bidding, competitive bidding, survey, prototype, building construction, strategy, construction industry, fuzzy set theory, decision-making process |
| Subjects: | bidding, modelling and simulation, data collection methods, decision-making and optimization, industry analysis, building construction, decision analysis, professional development, management |
| Topics: | Business Strategy, Research Practice, Engineering Principles, Information Management, Risk Management, Construction Technology, Procurement |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here