Factors affecting the bidding behaviour of contractors in Egypt

The financing source was determined to be the most important to the category of contractors included in the study. Other qualitative factors such as nationality of expected competitors were determined as influencing the decision. The factors and their influence on the bid/no bid decision differed between the Egyptian and foreign large size contractors operating in the country.     

Factors affecting the bid/no bid decision in the Saudi Arabian construction contractors

The bid/no bid decision requires an understanding of a company's assessment in relation to factors affecting the decision. Different companies might have different assessment values. The aim is to investigate how bid/no bid decisions are influenced by different characteristics of contractors. Various factors are identified and then analysed in order to investigate their influence and relative significance. A questionnaire survey was used to identify and rank the factors affecting the bidding decision and then analyse them in terms of differences between the returned responses with respect to the differing respondent characteristics. The findings have established the ranking order of the factors affecting the bid/no bid decision and identified their weights of importance. In addition, the influence of these characteristics upon the different weights of importance given by the survey respondents is found to be statistically significant. The most influential characteristics that affected their assessment of the weight of importance are contractor size, classification status of the contractor and the main client type. Different contractors' characteristics should be reflected in the way that the bid/no bid decisions are modelled. Also, the data collected should be categorized with regards to contractors' characteristics before starting the data analysis and modelling processes.     

A neural network bid/no bid model: the case for contractors in Syria

Despite the crucial importance of the ‘bid/no bid’ decision in the construction industry, it has been given little attention by researchers. This paper describes the development and testing of a novel bid/no bid model using the artificial neural network (ANN) technique. A back‐propagation network consisting of an input buffer with 18 input nodes, two hidden layers and one output node was developed. This model is based on the findings of a formal questionnaire through which key factors that affect the ‘bid/no bid’ decision were identified and ranked according to their importance to contractors operating in Syria. Data on 157 real‐life bidding situations in Syria were used in training. The model was tested on another 20 new projects. The model wrongly predicted the actual bid/no bid decision only in two projects (10%) of the test sample. This demonstrates a high accuracy of the proposed model and the viability of neural network as a powerful tool for modelling the bid/no bid decision‐making process. The model offers a simple and easy‐to‐use tool to help contractors consider the most influential bidding variables and to improve the consistency of the bid/no bid decision‐making process. Although the model is based on data from the Syrian construction industry, the methodology would suggest a much broader geographical applicability of the ANN technique on bid/no bid decisions.     

浅析投标报价决策的技巧

针对现在建筑市场投标流行的评标办法，介绍了最低报价中标法、综合评标法、评审法等评标法的决策技巧，并结合实践进行了分析，以期提高中标率。     

A framework for contractors to reach strategically correct bid/no bid and mark-up size decisions

In an effort to uncover the main factors that characterize the two distinct but sequential stages of bidding decisions, namely bid/no bid and mark-up size decisions, this study identifies the key determining factors and their importance weights by presenting survey findings of 80 contracting organizations from Northern Cyprus and Turkish construction markets regarding this issue. The framework presented in this study will serve as a basis for a knowledge-based system model which will guide the contracting organizations in reaching ‘strategically correct’ bid/no bid and mark-up size decisions. The proposed framework used a reasoning model, which went deeply into the heart of the decision-making process and helped to clarify the complex picture regarding the two sequential decisions. The results revealed that there is a distinct and significant difference in the importance assigned to the same key factors for the two separate decision processes. Furthermore, the study confirmed the fact that the factors related to ‘strategic considerations’ have a significant role in both of these decision processes. One of the most striking findings of this research was the distinct difference in approach of varying sizes of contractors to the overall issue. Hence, these results suggest that any model regarding bidding and mark-up size decisions should definitely differentiate among different sizes of contractors to reflect the approaches of the related contractors in a better manner. Furthermore, it was interesting to find out that the correlation between different sizes of contractors’ approaches was higher in the mark-up decision process compared to the bidding decision process. In spite of the fact that this study was based on input provided by certain types of contractors in Northern Cyprus and Turkish construction markets only, we believe that the overall approach, reasoning and findings of the proposed framework are of good value to contracting organizations in different construction markets throughout the world as well.     

基于风险视角的国际PPP 项目投标决策模型研究

构建一个规范化的投标决策模型,将有利于国际PPP 项目投资者投标决策的科学性和有效性。根据国际PPP 项目的特点,以风险管理为视角,在系统分析投标决策影响因素的基础上,构建出国际PPP 项目投标决策模型。该模型主要包括投标决策流程和辅助投标决策的计算工具两个部分,投资者采用该模型能够得到各个风险因素的重要性排序、项目的整体风险水平和企业对风险的控制与承受能力评价结果,并以此作为科学决策的依据。并通过算例演示了该模型在国际PPP 项目投标决策中应用的可行性和适用性。     

信息共享在建筑供应链决策中的价值测度

科学测度信息共享在建筑供应链决策中的价值,对提高承包商的运作绩效具有重要意义。借鉴传统供应链信息共享价值分析的研究思路,结合建筑供应链管理实践,建立建筑供应链信息共享价值测度模型。以总承包商和材料设备供应商组成的供应链为例,建立供应商是否同总承包商共享供货信息对总承包商的服务水平和库存成本的影响的信息共享价值测度模型;以钢筋的采购管理为例,对该模型进行模拟分析。结果表明:共享信息可以提高总承包商的服务水平,降低总库存成本;供应商服务水平越低、供货提前期越大,信息共享对总承包服务水平和总库存成本的影响越大。     

Cause and effect 3-D model for measuring performance in construction acceleration: A decision support system

Despite the constant improvements in the management of building projects, the authors express concerns about the difficulties in controlling progress with construction, despite the availability of quantifiable and non-quantifiable data. They believe that a decision support system would assist managers when confronted by the consequences of arising delays, and by the decision whether and how to accelerate the remaining construction activities. The system has the advantages of providing support when facing an ill-structured decision about accelerating progress when delays occur; it also helps as a predictive management tool for minimizing or avoiding delays and their consequential claims.     

基于网络协同的建设项目价值管理系统

价值管理(Value Management,VM)是降低建设项目成本和改善项目执行效率和质量的一个重要途径,然而,VM在我国建设领域中还存在应用不足、认识不够、相关法律法规不完善以及成效不显著等问题。由于工作计划不同、技术手段差异以及不支持远程协同等因素的影响,针对香港建设领域开发的交互式价值管理系统(IVMS)难以直接应用于内地。为此,本文在IVMS基础上,提出了适用于我国建设领域VM实践的价值管理系统IVMS-CN。IVMS-CN是一个基于网络协同的群体决策支持系统,它由网络通讯平台、协同平台和管理平台等三部分组成,能够为用户提供一个远程协作环境和群体决策支持平台,实现远程参与VM研究,并促进参与者之间的信息交流和共享,减少过程损失,增加信息增益,从而实现VM研究效率与质量的提高。     

中国建筑企业国际市场进入模式决策体系研究

全球经济一体化的深入发展和国际建筑市场的巨大前景, 吸引了众多中国建筑企业参与到海外经营的行列中。面对海外复杂而多变的市场环境, 采用什么样的进入模式既可扩展海外市场又能降低经营风险以确保经营收益, 是长期困扰中国建筑企业的一大难题。本文通过国际市场进入模式相关理论的系统梳理, 发现其有较多局限性。如对进入国家的研究局限于由发达国家进入其它国家、对行业的研究局限于制造业和服务业以及在进入模式的选择中仅考虑静态的因素等。在此基础上, 本文综合考虑中国建筑企业及产业的发展特点, 重新构建了一套适用于中国建筑企业国际市场进入模式的分析框架及其相应的决策方法体系。     

A methodology for selecting portfolios of projects with interactions and under uncertainty

Effective project evaluation and selection strategies can directly impact organizational productivity and profitability. Numerous analytical techniques ranging from simple weighted scoring to complex mathematical programming approaches have been proposed to solve these problems. However, traditional project selection methods too often fail to consider both the uncertainties in projects and the interaction among projects. Some prior studies have considered the interaction among projects in deterministic environments. Others have dealt with stochastic environments but have not considered project interdependencies. This study aspires to fill this gap in the project portfolio selection literature. Information system/information technology (IS/IT) projects are used in this study because they are frequently subject to uncertainties due to estimation difficulties and bounded by interactions due to technological interdependencies. We use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to select the best portfolio of IS/IT projects while taking both project uncertainties (modeled as fuzzy variables) and project interactions into consideration simultaneously. We also present a numerical example to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed framework and exhibit the efficacy of the procedures.     

Financial evaluation program for construction projects at the pre-investment phase in developing countries: A case study

The construction industry in the Middle East represents a significant part of the world's economy. Millions of dollars are spent each year on different construction projects. These projects normally pass through several phases starting from pre-investment phase, conception design phase and finally the construction and commissioning phases. Financial management is a creative organized approach with an objective to minimize financing risks. It focuses on financial evaluation as an important issue; in that it has long been an area of attention of construction practitioners and researchers.