A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering, School of Civil Engineering

Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2001

The dominant current bid evaluation practice is to use the lowest bid as the sole criterion for contractor selection, especially in public work due to preference to avoid controversy and public responsibility. Adverse effects include insolvency of contractor, poor workmanship, and extensive claims. The existing design cost analyzer software: "WinACCEST 99 Plus", is modified due to potential and applicability of the software structure, using MS Visual Basics 6.0 and MS Access 97, to provide various analyses. The analyses are based on "Bid Variation Indicator" or BVI: quantitative values, which are both statistical and non-statistical. The modified software is used to analyze bidding data from a real project. The results are further analyzed qualitatively. Suggestions for usage of BVI are provided. The modified software can provide quantitative values to support managerial decisions in the bid evaluation process. Several minor improvements are accomplished: such as data input from spreadsheets, more data types; incorporation and separation into cost elements with general overhead, contingency, and profit; etc. Furthermore, as existing features are maintained, the software can provide analysis on accuracy of design estimates to help facilitate learning from experience of design estimators and to improve the performance of design estimates.