Factors Affecting the Bidding Decision in Sustainable Construction

Abstract

The environmental harms that the construction industry has caused are significantly detrimental and apparent. These harms include the emittance of a substantial amount of carbon dioxide and inducing ground and water contamination. Fortunately, these adverse environmental impacts can be minimized and counteracted by carrying out sustainable construction projects. As sustainable construction projects gain more popularity and are increasingly in demand, it is crucial for those who will execute these projects to be knowledgeable about the nature of sustainable construction projects and be able to determine whether to bid for these projects. The bidding decision is one of the critical decisions that contractors have to make due to the complexity and uncertainty surrounding this choice. Given the above challenge, this research aims to identify the most significant factors that affect the bidding decision in sustainable construction. The methodology adopted in this research is a mix of qualitative and quantitative analysis. An extensive literature review was first conducted to determine the bidding decision factors. After that, a survey was distributed to United Arab Emirates (UAE) construction professionals, where they were asked to rank the significance of the 40 extracted factors. The weighted average approach was then used to prioritize the most significant factors of the bidding decision in sustainable construction. The results showed that the top 10 ranking factors were as follows: client’s financial capabilities, client’s payment history, client’s reputation, project risks, contractor’s financial capabilities, project complexity, experience in similar projects, project type, contractor’s access to technologies required to execute sustainable projects, and material availability. The findings of this research can benefit contractors and subcontractors by increasing their understanding of the major factors affecting the bidding decision in sustainable construction. Contractors armed with such invaluable information will be better equipped to reach more effective better bidding decisions.