Modeling the Decision-Making Process Concerning Participation in Construction Bidding

Deciding whether to take part in a bidding has a significant influence on the condition of a construction company. Not bidding deprives the contractor of the possibility of completing a given building project, yet the contractor has to consider whether, for example, he or she has the capability of carrying out a particular project. This paper presents a brief description of some chosen models aiding the bid/no bid decision that have been proposed in previous studies. Moreover, the authors designed their own model based on the fuzzy set theory. The basis of the decision model became the previous selection of factors influencing the decision. To achieve this, the authors conducted a study among contractors in 2010-2011 in Southern Poland. One hundred and fifty surveys were sent, providing 41% of answers. Based on the analysis of the surveys, according to the contractors, the top three most vital factors influencing the bid/no bid decision are (1) the type of work, (2) experience in similar projects, and (3) contractual terms. Both the evaluation of the factors and their influence on the decision to be made in a given enterprise are largely subjective and hard to unambiguously assess; therefore, the proposed model incorporates the fuzzy set theory, which is exceptionally convenient for finding solutions to the problems resulting from human subjectivity. The results are presented and commented on in this paper. (C) 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.