Evaluation of tenders in information technology

Two case studies are described for evaluating tenders in information technology (IT) in public procurement process based on multiattribute group decision models and the software WINGDSS. The:given decision methodology is further developed by discussing a method to aggregate scores measured on a scale and price. In 1997, 17 parallel tenders were handled together, 468 offers were evaluated by eight decision-makers, in two rounds, with respect to 18 and 5-8 criteria, respectively, in 5 days. In 1998, the same problem resulted in 168 offers, which were evaluated in one round by nine decision-makers with respect to 100-150 criteria, in 3 days. Since 1997, goods worth of 4-5 billion HUF (approximately 200-300 million US$) per year have been purchased within the frame of the contracts yielded by the tenders. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.