Tender Selection Research Articles

Sustainable method for tender selection using linear Diophantine multi-fuzzy soft set

Tender selection is a fundamental issue for the success of construction projects since it contributes to the overall outline’s performance. In reallife problems, the decision-makers cannot express certain crisp data, so there is uncertainty and vagueness in the values. In this paper, a sustainable technique is proposed to find desirable tenderers coherently and fairly under the needed circumstances. This paper presents three methods of an algorithmic approach to evaluate the tendering process and rank the tenderers. The attributes are expressed as Linear Diophantine Multi-Fuzzy Soft numbers (LDMFSN) since the existence of reference parameters makes the DM freely choose their grade values. Some of the rudimentary properties of LDMFSN are presented. An illustrative example is demonstrated to validate our proposed method. The uniqueness of the result in all three algorithms shows the effectiveness of our proposed approach.

DIGITALISATION OF LOCAL PUBLIC SERVICES FOR THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT IN ROMANIA. THE PARTICULAR CASE OF THE PUBLIC PROCUREMENT PROCESS

The way in which public procurement is carried out affects the whole economy and, indirectly, the quality of people’s live, as a result of public servcies, goods and works acquired. Free competition between tendering economic agents, equity and fairness of procurement tenders must to be guaranteed within the framework of digitalized business-oriented public services. These have to stimulate the development of the business environment by offering contract for supply of public goods, services and works in a framework of transparent, objective and fair competition. Digitalisation of public services offers an advantage in this respect. This present paper proposes an unitary architectural model of the public procurement process within local administrations, one that could serve as a basis for the design of adequate computer software aimed at providing digital formatting to this entire process. The model is unitary within each Romanian local public administration and is also applicable to any of its structures (city councils, regional councils or their subordinated public institutions, other entities financed from public funds) and has been drafted in compliance with the applicable public procurement legislation. Proposing this model is justified not only because it provides a unitary public procurement digitalization process of the contracting authority which, at the moment relies solely on the use of the SICAP national platform, but also because its implementation guarantees the compliance with the principles of free competition between tendering economic agents as well as impartiality and fairness during the tender selection process. Digitalisation provides this advantage to both the public and private sectors, enabling their interaction, an advantage that needs to be properly exploited to generate digitalised services with added value, customized for the business environment, the added value consisting in actually ensuring these principles.

Assessing the effect of structural parameters and building site in achieving low carbon building materialization using a life-cycle assessment approach

The building industry has traditionally been driven by cost and time metrics while meeting quality and safety requirements. However, environmental concerns such as the carbon effect of the final product receive less attention. Due to increasing emissions awareness within the society, there have been calls from the public for greater environmental and social accountability. While many client organizations seek to add environmental measures to their tender selection criteria, efforts to reduce carbon emissions in the building construction are not well understood. This paper proposes that by selecting appropriate structural parameters and building sites, the construction of buildings will be in accordance with a low carbon footprint intensity (CFI). This is demonstrated by the analysis of various factories producing structural materials, along with a wide range of residential buildings. It was found that through the replacement of steel structures with concrete structures, a 24.46% decrease (69.97 kg/m2) in the CFI of structures will be achieved. It was also found that replacing an eight-story steel structure with two different four-story structures will result in a 35.94% (127.82 kg/m2) reduction in carbon intensity. In addition, a 14.44% (47.64 kg/m2) reduction in the CFI of a steel structure located in a site with stiff soil was observed by relocating it to a very dense soil site. This figure for a concrete structure was 13.94% (34.87 kg/m2). It is hoped that project managers and client organizations find the results of this research useful when deciding on structural parameters with lower carbon emissions. In this way, the paper contributes to the current performance of sustainable buildings.

Quality management of RDP housing construction: myth or reality?

PurposeSouth Africa has a large social housing scheme to provide primary housing for less privileged citizens who obtain an average monthly income of less than R 3,500.00. The government seeks to promote an integrated society by developing sustainable human settlements and quality housing within a subsidy system for different income groups. This study aims to examine whether quality management is applied to the reconstruction and development programme (RDP) housing programme during construction.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative survey approach was selected for this study. This involved using a close-ended questionnaire to collect data amongst 1,893 households who are currently residing in government housing units in the city of Bloemfontein, in the Free State province. The questionnaires were self-administered amongst randomly selected respondents based on their availability at the time of the visit to the above area. However, only the occupants of a household were included in the study. The data gathered were analysed by making use of R-programming software.FindingsThe findings revealed that a low level of quality is evident in the already constructed RDP housing units. Most of the inspected units were built with low-quality building materials or were not well-constructed, with derelict structural frames and finishes being evident in most houses. Respondents also indicated that they were not satisfied with the quality of some aspects of the units, such as the plaster and paint finishes, door frames built into walls and uneven floors and floor finishes. These complaints indicate that little to no quality management was applied at the time of construction or even afterwards during the latent defects period.Research limitations/implicationsThe survey was limited to responses amongst randomly selected government RDP housing occupants in seven communities in Bloemfontein’s periphery, in the Free State Province of South Africa.Practical implicationsThe empirical results from the findings indicate that the South African Government should ensure that quality management is applied during the housing units’ construction. This may mean that a new strategy for verifying the units’ quality will need to be developed, considering the respondents’ concerns by improving the quality of the construction materials and methods used to erect these units. The government should also consider improving contractors’ tender selection criteria to ensure higher quality construction methods, materials and management.Originality/valueThe study has identified quality challenges in constructing the social housing and stated recommendations that will address the identified issues if implemented by the programme implementers. This will help achieve the programme's objective, which is to improve the living conditions of previously disadvantaged individuals through social housing scheme.

Evaluation of Unit Rates Bids of Common Building Items

Abstract It is important to assess firms’ financial health in the harsh construction market of developing countries. This study seeks to achieve this by assessing locally owned construction firms’ (LOCOFs) financial performance through evaluating firms’ bill of quantities (BOQ) contract sums and bid unit rates of common building items. Accessible 60 BOQ of the 79 BOQ of building projects awarded to various LOCOFs from 2007 to 2015 by federal universities and federal universities teaching hospitals in Southwest Nigeria were obtained from the institutional archives. Regression analysis of the contract sums and bid unit rates of common building construction items of works such as concrete, sandcrete block, iron, mortar and floor tiles were carried out. LOCOFs’ bid unit rates were compared with published unit rates and Nigeria consumer price index (CPI) within the study period and inferences bothering on firms’ pricing pattern and financial viability of firms based on items of work unit rates were highlighted and discussed. The results showed that 119 out of a total 461 unit rates values representing 25.81% of the LOCOFs bided unit rates were higher than the published unit rates. LOCOFs unit rates trend decreased within 3 to 4 consecutive years while the Nigeria CPI trend increased all through the years considered in the study. This implies that LOCOFs common items of work bids unit rates were not always influenced by the prevailing prices of goods and services in Nigeria. A possible reason for this is the lowest tender selection criteria which influences LOCOFs’ bided unit rates thereby leading to the acclaimed compromise in the quality of construction output and stunted financial performance.

Investigation of Innovation during Bid Evaluation Process in the Road Construction Industry

Tender evaluation is the procedure of choosing the best contractor for a particular project from many applicants. Although rational and logical methods can be used for bidding strategies, bid evaluation remains a skill for which an engineer’s verdict is crucial. Contractors commonly witness that tender selection is not an easy job, and the lowest bid does not necessarily win the contract. The tender decision mainly depends on quantifiable measures such as financial costs and paybacks, and qualitative or invisible factors like administrative security accountability, aptitude, and the proficiency of the contractors. Moreover, Bid evaluation is a decision-making procedure that incorporates an extensive criteria range for which the information is not accordingly. Hence, ambiguity linked to such information is not appropriate for this study. This paper aims to evaluate innovation during the bid evaluation process in the road industry. The research results indicate that the private and public sectors in Australia offer innovative products and work methods, given the chance. Therefore, innovation during the bid evaluation process is welcomed and sometimes strongly encouraged. Further, it is important to have strong research in to how to effectively determine value for money in the context of developing suitable and quality roads. Therefore, this research is useful in the context of evaluating factors that help to understand value for money in the road sector in context of bid evaluation process. Doi: 10.28991/cej-2021-03091676 Full Text: PDF

The Implementation of the RAD model in the Development of Tender Selection Programs Using the AHP Method

The activity of selecting bidders is one of the most important activities carried out by companies to order goods or services for bidders, but at meetings of the company leadership it is difficult to select bidders to make business partners because there are only a few things that are not in accordance with who agree to end the shipment of goods, prices do not match and end the company that receives losses. That is caused by the lack of competence of selected tender partners. From the problems mentioned above, the tender selection process that has been conducted so far is still lacking and inaccurate. The purpose of this study is to create an application program using the Rapid Application Development Model (RAD Model) that can assist leaders in selecting business partners through a tender process by giving weights according to the criteria specified requirements. It is expected that the tender selection process is objective and accurate. Assessment method Decision making (SPK) Analytichal Hierarchy Process (AHP) method is one method in the process of resolution by completing each case by completing it first by using weighting criteria. In the end the selection application program can help lead in making objective, fast and accurate decisions.

A group-AHP-based approach for selecting the best public tender

This paper focuses on the selection of the best tender in a public procurement process. This process involves different steps: the design of the tender process, the choice of tender selection methods, and scoring rules for evaluating tenders—the ex post control. Due to the interconnections between the rules on public contracts and those aimed to tackle corruption, the choice of tender selection methods and scoring rules for evaluating tenders assumes a crucial importance. The criterion usually used to select the best tender is the most economic advantageous tender (MEAT) based on the evaluation of technical requirements, on the one hand, and economic offer, on the other hand. First, this paper highlights some critical issues on the weighted sum method and some analytical formulas, commonly used to calculate the MEAT. Then, in order to apply a unique procedure and limit some risks of corruption and collusive agreements, it proposes to implement a unified group-AHP approach: In particular, a group-AHP model is applied for analyzing the qualitative component and another AHP model is used for the quantitative component.

Multicriteria approach to select the most economically advantageous tender

Purpose This paper aims to show how the proposed approach (two analytic hierarchy process [AHP] models) may allow dealing with the best tender selection process in an organic and simple way and ensure the consistency check of the judgements, the necessary step for having reliable results. At first, this paper highlights some critical issues regarding the weighted sum model (WSM) and the algorithms frequently used to evaluate the most economic advantageous tender. Then, it proposes to extend the AHP approach to the evaluation of both the qualitative and quantitative components of a public procurement award. Finally, the WSM and the AHP are applied to the same case study to show, step by step, some criticisms of the former and some advantages of the latter. Design/methodology/approach This paper proposes to apply two AHP models to evaluate both qualitative and quantitative components of a public tender. The quality and cost models allow to identify and select the tender associated with the highest quality/cost ratio. Findings The assessment of the WSM and the AHP models, and some differences between them, build upon their application as an example of public procurement. A case study is used as a teaching device (Yin, 2003) to highlight why the AHP may provide different results. In particular, an important issue concerning the evaluation of qualitative requirements is explored: the consistency of judgements expressed by the committee members. Social implications This approach provides analytical tools for public management that allow appropriate implementation of their management function and allow a realisation of the strategic objectives of European Union law and Italian legislation on public procurement. It would help managers to prioritise their goals and criteria and evaluate them in a scientific way. The model integrates multiple qualitative and quantitative criteria, simplifies the selection process, achieves optimal use of funds and leads to cost savings. It allows to reduce the discretional power of both the contracting issuer, in the choice of the formula to adopt for calculating the coefficients, and the committee members, allowing tender evaluation to have more trust and ensure the fairness of public procurement matters and quality of the object purchased. Originality/value This paper proposes the use of two hierarchical models to evaluate qualitative and quantitative requirements and provide the ranking among several tenders.

A sustainable procurement approach for selection of construction consultants in property and facilities management

Purpose Outsourcing architectural and engineering services is a trend for public-sector construction projects. This study aims to examine what tender selection criteria should be considered when assessing the performance outcomes of consultants in relation to sustainable design, construction and management of buildings within the context of property and facilities management of existing building portfolios. Design/methodology/approach Combined qualitative-quantitative methods are adopted to examine the causal relationship between sustainable performance outcomes and influencing factors, using primary data collected from the estate offices of the UK universities, which form a unique public sector. The performance factors identified form the basis of selection criteria. Findings The qualitative multiple-case interviews identify economic, environmental, social and functional sustainability measures as the attributes of performance outcome. The quantitative hierarchical regression analysis generalises that sustainable performance outcomes can be significantly influenced by task and contextual performance factors. Research limitations/implications The scope of the study is limited to university estates. Further research should be conducted on other property and facilities management and construction-related organisations so that the sustainable procurement approach developed by this research can become more robust and applicable to the wider public sector. Practical implications At the tender stage, estate managers should adopt a sustainable procurement approach for selection of construction consultants: focussing on the significant task performance (project staff and execution approach) and contextual performance (collaborative consultant frameworks) influencing factors to optimise the project sustainability outcomes in relation to economic, environmental, social and functional values. Originality/value The sustainable procurement approach developed by this research benefits property and facilities management, as well as construction disciplines within the wider public sector, thus contributing to the government construction policy on promoting sustainability to the built environment.

EFFECT OF PROCUREMENT LIFECYCLE ON PERFORMANCE OF GOVERNMENT MINISTRIES IN KENYA

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to establish the effect of procurement lifecycle on performance of government ministries in Kenya. The study specific objectives were to establish the effect of procurement planning on performance of Government Ministries in Kenya, to assess the effect of procurement contract award on performance of Government Ministries in Kenya and to determine the effect of procurement contract management on performance of Government Ministries in Kenya. Methodology: The study used five theories to support the literature. The study theories were Principal-Agency Theory, the Institutional Theory, Stakeholder Theory and Resource based Theory. The study employed descriptive research design. The targeted population of this study were 18 government ministries. The researcher collected primary data using both open-ended and closed-ended questionnaires. The data presentation was done using tables from both descriptive and inferential statistics analysis. The study used the multiple regression analysis models to measure the relationship between independent and dependent variables and the significant of the study.Results: R Square (R2) indicated that 51.8% of the variation on performance of government ministries could be explained by the fitted model leaving out 41.9% of variation unexplained. This indicated the presence of other factors in the surrounding, relating to procurement lifecycle towards the performance of ministries in addition to the ones identified for the study. However, the model showed goodness of fit since the R Square was above 50%. The value of the F statistic (9.146) indicates that the overall regression model was significant at the significance level of 0.05. From the finding, the study established that Tender Qualification and Selection, Procurement Contract Management and Procurement Planning were significant to the study with their P-values less than the default alpha. Procurement Contract Award was insignificant to the study with its P-value being greater that the default alpha level of significant.Contribution to policy and practice: The study recommends the Government Ministries in Kenya to consider improving procurement contract award to their suppliers by improving on the way they prepare the solicitation document, receive and evaluate bids, conducts the cost analysis, award the bid as required by the act as well as the way procurement prepares the solicitation document for better performance in future.The Government ministries to reconsider its persistence in ensuring that the procurement team develops contract administration plan, receives goods and services from the suppliers, signs the invoices to facilitate supplier payment, manages the vendors, starts up the contract in due time as required and closes the contract when it ends. By so doing, they shall ease the way in which their operational performance is conducted.

TENDER EVALUATION: MCDM TECHNIQUES

The decision of tender evaluation and allotment is one of the important step of any construction project. There has been a trend away in tender evaluation process from considering quantitative parameters ("lowest price win", "maximum benefit win") to other qualitative parameters (past performance, time of completion). This paper reviewed past and recent literature in order to identify the current tendering process and the various techniques that have been applied previously. The study utilized different MCDM techniques for evaluation of tendering process. Multi-criteria decision making research has become one of the main areas of research for dealing complex and critical decision problems. This paper outlines the use of various systematic decision making tool for the tender selection. Qualitative and quantitative criteria are compared, and the uncertainty associated with the selection of right contractor is highly reduced. By using a case study the tender evaluation is fully investigated applying various MCDM techniques. Results from the different methods are compared and fuzzy extend analysis, fuzzy TOPSIS showed slight difference in results from the other methods.

Técnicas de inteligencia artificial para optimizar la eficiencia del procedimiento de selección para la contratación de obras públicas

The present article proposes to design a model that provides a generic architecture which acts autonomously in public works contracting selection processes, in order to generate an automated decision criterion in the event of a tie. For the Simplified Tender selection process, in case of a tie, it is proposed to choose the bidder by means of an electronic lottery based on a controlled randomization system of encryption and transformation. For the Public Bidding selection process, in the event of a tie, the bidder is chosen by means of a predicted compliance index according to the behavior of the companies when executing similar infrastructure projects. To this end, a model that predicts the probability of success or failure of the bidder to execute a project before initiating it is generated, using artificial neural networks as an analysis tool. This paper reviews the common characteristics of artificial neural networks.

Recent developments in the case law of the Court of Justice in the field of public procurement

This paper provides a concise presentation of judgments of the Court of Justice in the field of public procurement, handed down between March 2016 and March 2017, which add interesting new elements to the Court’s case law. It focuses on developments concerning the scope of application of the public procurement directives, the qualitative selection of tenderers, the award of the public contract and the judicial protection awarded to tenderers.

PROCEDURES FOR STAGE PROCESSING OF IRON-ORE WASTES IN INDUSTRIAL MINING AREAS

Authors substantiate development of management procedures for the step-by-step processing of iron ore wastes of mining regions that provide a full cycle of rational nature management through the introduction of waste-free and low-waste technologies, followed by reclamation and creation of recreation areas for people. Procedure for operating enterprises has been developed, that consists of structure and sequence of operation stages, sump recovery scheme, technological preparation of equipment, calendar plan. Stages are carried out in parallel and consist of waste recycling, reclamation, search, analysis and selection of tenders for recreational areas development. Waste processing and land reclamation are carried out during operation of mining enterprise. Commissioning of the territories intended for recreation of mining areas population is carried out after enterprise liquidation. Management of step-by-step processing of iron ore wastes for closed enterprises consists of the following stages: search for finance support for technogenic resources utilization and reclamation of disturbed land through the sale of available fixed assets (buildings, structures and equipment) and call for investments, including the state ones. In case of insufficient financing, part of iron ore waste is used as construction or packing material for reclamation. Management of the step-by-step processing of iron ore wastes for the projects under implementation includes non-continuous monitoring of man-made resources formation and land disturbance. When wastes are generated, an analysis of existing technologies aimed at their utilization and reclamation of disturbed lands is carried out. Non-continuous monitoring helps to prevent potential environmental damage. During operation of enterprise, step-by-step development of recreation zones is carried out with its subsequent commissioning after the enterprise liquidation. Based on the proposed management of step-by-step processing of iron ore waste, scenarios for waste-free and low-waste technologies introduction in the Tashtagol District of the Kemerovo Region have been developed. Their simulation was carried out in SciLab. The problem of processing scenarios ranking has been stated and solved.

Posouzení a hodnocení nabídek při zadávání veřejných zakázek v České republice

The article deals with the assessment and evaluation of tenders in public procurement in the Czech Republic. Evaluation and assessment of tenders is one of the most important stages of public procurement and has an influence on selection of the best tender. Therefore, it is necessary to set up the criteria rightly in order to choose the most advantageous tender. Evaluation of tenders is realized by the evaluation committee, it must proceed exactly according to the established evaluation criteria. Evaluation and assessment must be carried out in accordance with the principles of transparency and non-discrimination of tenderers. The article also includes evaluating and assessing specific public contracts with the help of a multi-criteria decision analysis, namely the methods: the Weighted Sum Approach (WSA) and the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), which can be used in practice. The aim of this article is to describe and evaluate the issue of assessment and evaluation of tenders in public procurement in the Czech Republic and also includes evaluating and assessing specific public contracts with the help of a multi-criteria decision analysis, WSA and TOPSIS.

An AHP-Evaluation Models for Ranking Construction Tenders Using Simulation: A Case Study in Kurdistan Region of Iraq

In ranking decision alternatives, Analytic Hierarchy Process is regarded as one of themost successful techniques to deal with multiple criteria decision making problems.Recognizing that tender evaluation is a typical multi-criteria decision making problem,this paper introduces an evaluation approach based on AHP methodology for rankingvarious alternative options, each represents a construction project the tender, and thenselecting the best one. The proposed model can guide decision makers in constructionindustry identify contractors with the best potential to deliver satisfactory outcomes in afinal process of tender selection in Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Moreover, in order toreduce the inherent uncertainty within the AHP, which may significantly affect thedecision process, a new methodology is proposed by using simulation. This model istested by a hypothetical scenario where six tenders are evaluated and then, the bestcandidate is selected. Furthermore, the criteria used for the tender selection in the modeland the significance of each criterion had been arrived at by conducting the first surveystudy for public and private organizations in Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Reliability Assessment of Research into Contractors’ Bidding Decisions

The most popular system for contracting construction works in the Polish market is the tender procedure. The selection of tenders in which a company will take part is very important as it plays a vital role in building its position on the market. Making a bid/no bid decision is influenced by a number of factors. The research carried out so far has been concerned mainly with identification of various kinds of factors influencing contractors’ bidding decisions. The present study describes a group of factors – identified using a survey method – that may influence the contractor's decision to participate in a tender procedure. An important problem revealed by the survey is assessment of experts’ opinions consistency. The method used in this paper for the consistency evaluation is Kendall's coefficient of concordance.

Development and Implementation of a Lifecycle Carbon Tool for Highway Maintenance

AbstractThe highway maintenance sector within the United Kingdom consumes considerable amounts of natural resources and accounts for a large amount of carbon emissions. Carbon emissions reduction is now considered an integral part of tender selection criteria and project performance issue by highway clients. This requires contractors to be able to assess and reduce both direct and indirect emissions associated with highway maintenance. This presents a challenge for the sector as despite the availability of methods to assess carbon there are no routine tools to allow a lifecycle assessment (LCA) approach to carbon reduction as part of ongoing maintenance management. Thus, there is a need for a consistent, project-focused carbon assessment tool, underpinned by a robust LCA methodology that can assess emissions and emissions reduction across core highway maintenance processes. This paper describes the development and business implementation of such a tool based on the Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 2...

A combination of extended fuzzy AHP and fuzzy GRA for government E-tendering in hybrid fuzzy environment.

The recent government tendering process being conducted in an electronic way is becoming an inevitable affair for numerous governmental agencies to further exploit the superiorities of conventional tendering. Thus, developing an effective web-based bid evaluation methodology so as to realize an efficient and effective government E-tendering (GeT) system is imperative. This paper firstly investigates the potentiality of employing fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) along with fuzzy gray relational analysis (GRA) for optimal selection of candidate tenderers in GeT process with consideration of a hybrid fuzzy environment with incomplete weight information. We proposed a novel hybrid fuzzy AHP-GRA (HFAHP-GRA) method that combines an extended fuzzy AHP with a modified fuzzy GRA. The extended fuzzy AHP which combines typical AHP with interval AHP is proposed to obtain the exact weight information, and the modified fuzzy GRA is applied to aggregate different types of evaluation information so as to identify the optimal candidate tenderers. Finally, a prototype system is built and validated with an illustrative example for GeT to confirm the feasibility of our approach.