An Empirical Study of Contractors’ Bidding Trends in Recurrent Bidding: A Case of Singapore Public Sector Construction Projects
There have been limited empirical studies that aimed to establish the tenability of the stationarity assumption in recurrent construction bidding, and thus the need for and importance of allowing for continuity in bidding models remain unexplored. This study examined the bidding trends of individual...
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MDPI AG
2025-02-01
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| author | Yixi Zhang Bee Lan Oo Goran Runeson Benson Teck Heng Lim |
| author_facet | Yixi Zhang Bee Lan Oo Goran Runeson Benson Teck Heng Lim |
| author_sort | Yixi Zhang |
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| description | There have been limited empirical studies that aimed to establish the tenability of the stationarity assumption in recurrent construction bidding, and thus the need for and importance of allowing for continuity in bidding models remain unexplored. This study examined the bidding trends of individual contractors according to their level of experience in recurrent bidding, to test the tenability of the stationarity assumption. The data sample was a past bidding dataset of Singapore public sector construction projects over a five-year period between 2017 and 2021, with over 8000 bidding records from more than 900 contractors. The results show that there were statistically significant changes in the contractors’ bidding trends, irrespective of their level of experience in recurrent bidding and different time periodicities, ranging between 10 and 20 months. Thus, the stationarity assumption that contractors behave in a probabilistically consistent way over time, regardless of changing conditions, was untenable for the data sample involved. The observed changes in the contractors’ bidding trends cannot be regarded as random, but represent a continuous strategic process in response to changes in market forces. It is postulated that the possible causes of changes vary among individual contractors, in which there are a set of varying internal and external factors they consider at the time of bidding. The findings have implications for future bidding modelling attempts, in allowing for continuity in recurrent bidding. Contractors should systematically review and re-optimize their bidding strategy by leveraging their historical bidding data and bidding feedback information from clients, since their potential competitors will do the same thing for recurrent bidding. |
| format | Article |
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| institution | DOAJ |
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| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
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| spelling | doaj-art-a32ef5d2bc7c4b2aa4428c477a1b7d802025-08-20T02:44:49ZengMDPI AGBuildings2075-53092025-02-0115455510.3390/buildings15040555An Empirical Study of Contractors’ Bidding Trends in Recurrent Bidding: A Case of Singapore Public Sector Construction ProjectsYixi Zhang0Bee Lan Oo1Goran Runeson2Benson Teck Heng Lim3School of Built Environment, University of New South Wales—UNSW, Sydney 2052, AustraliaSchool of Built Environment, University of New South Wales—UNSW, Sydney 2052, AustraliaSchool of Built Environment, University of Technology Sydney—UTS, Sydney 2007, AustraliaSchool of Built Environment, University of New South Wales—UNSW, Sydney 2052, AustraliaThere have been limited empirical studies that aimed to establish the tenability of the stationarity assumption in recurrent construction bidding, and thus the need for and importance of allowing for continuity in bidding models remain unexplored. This study examined the bidding trends of individual contractors according to their level of experience in recurrent bidding, to test the tenability of the stationarity assumption. The data sample was a past bidding dataset of Singapore public sector construction projects over a five-year period between 2017 and 2021, with over 8000 bidding records from more than 900 contractors. The results show that there were statistically significant changes in the contractors’ bidding trends, irrespective of their level of experience in recurrent bidding and different time periodicities, ranging between 10 and 20 months. Thus, the stationarity assumption that contractors behave in a probabilistically consistent way over time, regardless of changing conditions, was untenable for the data sample involved. The observed changes in the contractors’ bidding trends cannot be regarded as random, but represent a continuous strategic process in response to changes in market forces. It is postulated that the possible causes of changes vary among individual contractors, in which there are a set of varying internal and external factors they consider at the time of bidding. The findings have implications for future bidding modelling attempts, in allowing for continuity in recurrent bidding. Contractors should systematically review and re-optimize their bidding strategy by leveraging their historical bidding data and bidding feedback information from clients, since their potential competitors will do the same thing for recurrent bidding.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/15/4/555biddingconstructiontenderingtheorytrend |
| spellingShingle | Yixi Zhang Bee Lan Oo Goran Runeson Benson Teck Heng Lim An Empirical Study of Contractors’ Bidding Trends in Recurrent Bidding: A Case of Singapore Public Sector Construction Projects Buildings bidding construction tendering theory trend |
| title | An Empirical Study of Contractors’ Bidding Trends in Recurrent Bidding: A Case of Singapore Public Sector Construction Projects |
| title_full | An Empirical Study of Contractors’ Bidding Trends in Recurrent Bidding: A Case of Singapore Public Sector Construction Projects |
| title_fullStr | An Empirical Study of Contractors’ Bidding Trends in Recurrent Bidding: A Case of Singapore Public Sector Construction Projects |
| title_full_unstemmed | An Empirical Study of Contractors’ Bidding Trends in Recurrent Bidding: A Case of Singapore Public Sector Construction Projects |
| title_short | An Empirical Study of Contractors’ Bidding Trends in Recurrent Bidding: A Case of Singapore Public Sector Construction Projects |
| title_sort | empirical study of contractors bidding trends in recurrent bidding a case of singapore public sector construction projects |
| topic | bidding construction tendering theory trend |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/15/4/555 |
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