Crisp and fuzzy appraisal of tenderer’s qualifications in public works procurement in Turkey

Purpose In Turkish public procurement practice of construction works, only bidders whose capabilities on each qualification criteria meet prescribed thresholds are taken into evaluation; however, final evaluation disregards contribution of contractor’s abilities to the delivery of project. The purpose of this study is to assign reasonable weights to qualification criteria stated in Public Procurement Law applicable for work contracts by the method of analytical hierarchy process (AHP) with crisp and fuzzy numbers and evaluate the results. Having optimum quality structures to obtain value for money and giving weight to environmental concern in tender evaluation stage can assist sustainable economy. Design/methodology/approach To introduce qualifications of tenderers to evaluation process, a survey was conducted among 20 public procurement specialists at Public Procurement Authority of Turkey. AHP and fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) methods were used to obtain the weights for qualifications. Findings In any method used in the study, experience became the most important criterion after bid price. Facility, machine and equipment criterion became the second and annual turnover criterion became the third most important criterion. Research limitations/implications The set of qualification criteria used in this study is confined by Turkish Public Procurement Law and secondary regulations. However, as Public Procurement Law is in accordance with European Union directives, the conclusions of the study should not be considered to be geographically limited by the borders of Turkey. Also, professional to take part in the survey were randomly selected from the Public Procurement Specialist working at Public Procurement Authority. Social implications The outcomes of the study may improve sustainability through public procurement. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study offering weights for tenderer’s qualifications to be used in a multi-criteria decision-making process for contractor selection in public work procurement process in Turkey.