• International conference on construction engineering and project management
• /
• 2022.06a
• /
• pp.18-24
• /
• 2022

State highway agencies (SHAs) typically apply a competitive procurement procedure to select contractors for their design-bid-build projects. Since the level of competition affects construction bid prices and project outcomes, the Federal Highway Agency (FHWA) suggests SHAs seek ways to improve competition among contractors continuously. However, they rarely conduct an empirical assessment of the current competition level necessary to identify room for improvement. Besides the number of bidders on a project, other factors such as winning or losing rates among the contractors in previous projects can also indicate the degree of competition; only a few contractors may have won the majority of the projects in a specific region. However, few studies have investigated such factors. This paper proposes a network analysis-based approach to evaluating contractor competition levels of highway projects using historical bid tabulation data. The proposed method provides insights into overall competition levels, the determination of competitive contractors, and winning rate distribution among contractors.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
• /
• 2022.06a
• /
• pp.11-17
• /
• 2022

Design-bid-build (DBB) is the most common project delivery method among highway projects. State Highway Agencies (SHAs) usually apply a low-bid approach to select contractors for their DBB projects. In this approach, the Federal Highway Agency suggests SHAs heighten contractors' competition to lower bid prices. However, these attempts may become ineffective due to collusive bidding arrangements among certain contractors. One common strategy is the rotation of winning bidders of a group of contractors who bid on many of the same projects. These arrangements may also be specific to a particular region or vary in time. Despite the practices' adverse effects on bidding outcomes, an effective model to detect red-flag bidding patterns is lacking. This study fills the gap by proposing a novel framework that utilizes pattern mining techniques and statistical tests for unusual pattern detection. A case study with historical data from an SHA is conducted to illustrate the proposed framework.

• Archives of design research
• /
• v.19 no.5 s.67
• /
• pp.255-268
• /
• 2006

This study raised a question about 'how user's psychological value consciousness influences design evaluation and evaluated 14 product samples. Three main categories were chosen to be analyzed; product evaluation by step, value consciousness toward products, and creation of shape image and design evaluation. In order to obtain results, four research hypotheses were established a and case study was conducted as part of 'conclusive research' for verification. 120 university students in their 20s majoring in product design were chosen as testees in a bid to increase the accuracy of data. With data collected, the whole flow was analyzed by simple tabulation and further analysis was carried out in three evaluation items. An analysis method was mainly quantitative, focusing on multivariate analysis like factor analysis, cluster analysis, etc. The empirical analysis of this study was verified at P<.05 significance level and SPSSWIN 12.0 program was used for statistic process. As a result, four conclusions were gained regarding 'user's value consciousness toward products and pattern of design evaluation'.