Genetic local search in an automated contracting environment

Abstract

In automated contracting, bid evaluation is a complex process because the task of finding the optimal set of bids requires the consideration of several factors such as time constraints, risk estimates and price. There have been attempts in the recent past (such as the use of simulated-annealing) to solve the bid evaluation problem in an automated contracting environment. This research endeavors to offer a better alternative to the solution of the bid evaluation problem by adopting the genetic local search (GLS) method.