Post-objective determination of weights of the evaluation factors in public procurement tenders

In public procurement tenders the awarding criterion of the most economically advantageous bid employs weights to aggregate the numerical scores assigned to each proposal with respect to different evaluation factors. Typically these weights are fixed and subjectively set in advance. Methods, which objectively determine the weights after the opening of the sealed bids on the basis of the most or least favorable weights for each proposal, are developed. Post-objective methods of weight determination are shown to enhance the integrity of the evaluation process and to limit corruption in a public tender. The connection of Data Envelopment Analysis, which has been extensively applied to measure supplier efficiency, with the developed methods, is explored. Average least and most favorable weights are derived and optimal bidding strategies in this setting are presented.