Performance-based bidding decisions for Egyptian road contractors

One of the most critical decisions to be made by contractor firms is whether to bid or not to bid for a project. Improper bidding decisions can become the ultimate nightmare for the contractor. While the literature provides a lot of insight into the common parameters for the bidding decision, little has been done to incorporate the performance expectations at project completion. This paper presents a performance-based decision model for bidding on road projects in Egypt. It further illustrates its application by a 1st class Egyptian road contractor. The model utilizes a fuzzy linguistic approach for identifying the level of attractiveness of bid opportunities, and then relates such bid attractiveness value to the project's presumptive success rating. The latter rating, which employs utility functions, can be developed by a company based on its completed project portfolio and the perception of successes and failures in project execution. Properly recommending bid/no bid decisions was demonstrated in model application.