Optimizing Contractor Selection for Construction Packages in Capital Projects

Abstract

In capital construction projects, the contractor selection process is executed in the front-end planning phase based on the experience and judgment of the project leadership team, whose members are considered experts. A comprehensive construction value packaging system (CVPS) is presented for assisting these project leaders in improving the efficacy, efficiency, and transparency of this process. The CVPS comprises an interface-oriented approach to work decomposition and a multicriteria approach to contractor selection. Selection is supported by software for iteratively computing and interactively visualizing the Pareto front of optimal work packages. The CVPS is validated by functional demonstration and a case study of a piping installation project in an energy infrastructure facility. The initial Pareto front had more than 100,000 optimal work packages representing different trade-offs between cost, time, contractor experience, maintenance rates, and financial stability. An iterative and interactive process of query formulation and exact (not heuristic) evaluation helped the expert to focus in on solutions of interest and created a transparent and quantitative record of the decision-making process. Thus, this research contributes a new paradigm and computational tool for project decision support.