Date of Award

12-2003

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Civil and Construction Engineering

First Advisor

Dr. Osama Abudayyeh

Second Advisor

Dr. Jawahar Nesan

Third Advisor

Dr. Sherif Yehia

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

Design-Build, Cost-Plus-Time, and warranty are the three innovative contracting methods that the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) decided to fund. FHWA allowed the usage of these methods in federally funded projects if this will result in reducing time, improving quality, and saving tax payers' money. Prequalification is recognized as the best way of assuring that contractors do have the required qualifications to deliver projects successfully. Prequalification is even more critical when low-bid selection method is used with any of the innovative contracting, since incompetent contractors may get awarded for low-bids that are not based on valid assumptions.

This study presents a low-bid prequalification model for projects delivered using any of the three innovative contracting methods. For each innovative method, there are two-step prequalification criteria applied to the contractors before they reach the final bidding stage. Technical bids are used to gather the criteria-related data from the contractor and sense his understanding of the owners' needs. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used as a tool to help in assigning weights to the established criteria and ranking contractors accordingly.

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