Abstract: Purpose – Several major infrastructure projects in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) have been delivered by the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model since the 1960s. Although the benefits of using BOT have been reported abundantly in the contemporary literature, some...

Industrial property is commonly located in a designated ‘industrial’ precinct. An industrial property has a specific design and a number of services to support industrial activities including manufacture, distribution and transportation. Although it has a unique characteristic, certain...

This paper reports on a fully structured interview survey, using a multi-sectional questionnaire, of experienced construction contract price forecasters. The aim of the research was to investigate the relationship between the accuracy of ‘early-stage’ forecasts and experience (defined in...

This paper is concerned with predicting the probability of tendering the lowest bid in sealed bid auctions. Four of the leading models from the bidding literature are shown to be subsumed within a general model – differing only in their method of parameter estimation. These models are then...

This paper describes a structured methodology for modelling the information requirements of contracting firms' tender adjudication decisions. The method adopted is based on the techniques of information strategy planning and critical success factor analysis used in the development of executive...

Since Friedman, fundamental research in construction contract bidding and estimating has been concerned with the full problem definition, formulation and calibration. The general problem definition is now virtually complete in that bidding involves sequential and simultaneous decisions to be...

A great body of knowledge exists on the theory of auctions and competitive bidding that is of potential relevance to construction contract tendering. Most of this, however, contains assumptions – such as perfect information – that are unlikely to be tenable in practice. The aim, therefore,...

Analysis of the difference between the lowest and second lowest bids, or bid-spread, in a ‘lowest wins’ auction is of possible value in strategic bidding; providing an indication of mistakes in bids; determining a justifiable amount of bid security; and a means of providing some insight into...

Value Management (VM) initially started in early 1940s in the US manufacturing industry has increasingly becoming popular within the construction industry community internationally. It has been widely accepted as an important tool in the management of projects. The structured, systematic and...

Against a background of already thin markets in some sectors of major public sector infrastructure in Australia and the desire of Australian federal government to leverage private finance, concerns about ensuring sufficient levels of competition are prompting federal government to seek new...