Current Approaches for Bid/No Bid Decision Making by the Contracting Organisations in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Construction bidding is the procedure for submitting comprehensive proposals by bidders for undertakingconstruction projects. Contractors often procure projects through competitive bidding and the bid/no bid decision making is a keymilestonein a project. Though numerous bid/no bid decision-making models have been developed, most of these models have practical and theoretical limitations which limit their applicability in practice. Hence, theultimate aim of this ongoing research is to propose an appropriate hierarchical framework for bid/no bid decision-making suitable for adoption by Sri Lankan contractors. Before proposing a framework, it is needed to ascertain the current practice of bid/no bid decision making approaches under the Sri Lankan construction scenario with the identification of factors affecting the decision. This research is basedon a qualitative approach, which analysed using code-based content analysis, dataobtained through semi structured interviews to provide significant findings. The results of the analysis indicate the consequences of the wrong bid/no bid decision making under two worst-case scenarios, viz. ‘accepting a wrong bid’ and ‘rejecting a proper bid’. Furthermore, three common bid/no bid decisionmaking approaches practiced by Sri Lankan contractors and factors that affect bid decisionmaking wereidentified in order to assist future studies related to the same research.