A genetic algorithm to investigate the trade-off between project lead time and net present value

In this paper, we present a new genetic algorithm for the resource-constrained project scheduling problem with discounted cash flows and investigate the trade-off between a project’s net present value and its corresponding lead time. We consider a problem formulation where the pre-specified project deadline is not set as a hard constraint, but rather as a soft constraint that can be violated against a certain penalty cost. The genetic algorithm creates children from parents taken from three different populations, each containing relevant information about the (positive or negative) activity cash flows. We have tested various parent selection methods based on four crossover operators taken from literature and present extensive computational results.