Providing intelligent support for the bid pricing processes

ABSTRACT In this paper we examine the bid pricing problem from the perspective of practical bid preparation and the provision of intelligent support for it. The focus of the paper is on the redesign of the bid pricing process such that it is better able to incorporate Information and Knowledge (In house Business Expertise). The aim is to provide a competitive edge for companies which make business to business sales and are obliged to bid for most of their business through responding to invitations to tender. In the paper we describe typical bid pricing processes as they are currently structured in both one of a kind manufacturing as well as in services. We also describe how they could be re—structured in order to take advantage of the new generation of intelligent decision support tools arising from the DECIDE and ServPrice Projects. The tools, which will support such processes, represent a wholly new class of IT systems and their novelty is explained in relation to existing categories of systems.

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