Bidding on Projects Based on Previous Works and Eminence , a Contractors ’ View Point

Nowadays, a project-winning environment is very competitive. In order to be successful and make profit, a contractor should start planning in advance and decide about what projects to bid. A prominent contractor should bid on projects for which his chances of winning are good enough or on projects for which the profit is high enough such that bidding would be worth consuming the resources needed for preparing the bid. The chances of winning bids are related to many factors but among all, degree of eminence (previous works) and price are the most important. In this thesis we have developed an optimization model that maximizes an index that takes both of these factors into consideration. Genetic Algorithm is used to solve this optimization model. The output of this model is the most beneficial set of projects and their respected optimal bid markups that will help the contractor make the most intuitive selection which, in return, benefits him/her the most at present and in the future. 2012 ii Dedication To my mother and father for the unconditional support they have always provided iii Acknowledgements I would like to thank everyone who has helped me during my studies and made my surrounding environment more comfortable at University of Maryland (UMD). My deepest and sincerest thanks is devoted to my advisor, professor Ali Haghani, for his support, guidance and his belief in me from the very first moment since my arrival at UMD. The kindness and fatherly advices he gave throughout my Masters is one of my major takeaways in life. I am grateful to all my colleagues and friends in our research group for their kind and helpful feedbacks. Especially, Masoud Hamedi for the extraordinary help he provided. And last but defiantly not least, a special thanks to my family and friends for their supports.