Optimality conditions for bilevel programming problems

Abstract

The bilevel programming problem (BLPP) is a sequence of two optimization problems where the constraint region of the upper level problem is determined implicitly by the solution set to the lower level problem. To obtain optimality conditions, we reformulate BLPP as a single level mathematical programming problem (SLPP) which involves the value function of the lower level problem. For this mathematical programming problem, it is shown that in general the usual constraint qualifications do not hold and the right constraint qualification is the calmness condition. It is also shown that the linear bilevel programming problem and the minmax problem satisfy the calmness condition automatically. A sufficient condition for the calmness for the bilevel programming problem with quadratic lower level problem and nondegenerate linear complementar¬ity lower level problem are given. First order necessary optimality condition are given using nonsmooth analysis. Second order sufficient optimality conditions are also give...