Identifying Significant Factors and Research Needs Related to Construction Bidding Decision-Making Processes

Abstract

Construction bidding is one of the highly challenging processes that reflects on the competition among contractors. Various studies have tackled this area by developing bidding models to aid contractors in their decision-making processes. However, most of the developed models faced limited applicability in real bidding situations. One of the driving reasons is their negligence to some impacting bidding factors. Having a holistic understanding of factors impacting construction bidding-related decisions and the level of investigation that these factors acquired in related literature is essential toward developing robust comprehensive bidding models. In a recent study, the authors identified a set of 43 bidding factors from the contractor’s perspective that are comprehensive, inclusive, and applicable to all countries. Consequently, in the study beforehand, the authors: (1) developed a reference matrix mapping the bidding factors with developed models presented in peer-reviewed articles published within the past 40 years in reputable construction engineering and management (CEM) journals; (2) utilized social network analysis (SNA) to quantitatively analyze the interconnectivities among the factors in the developed bidding models; and (3) applied simplified analysis techniques and SNA to identify the highly considered factors in developed bidding models and the understudied ones. The results of this study highlight the significant factors and knowledge gaps related to modeling construction bidding decision-making processes. Ultimately, this research provides guidelines to direct future research efforts in relation to modeling of construction bidding, which shall eventually promote better decision-making practices by the contractors within the bidding processes in the construction industry.