Contracting cleaning services in a European public underground transportation company with the aid of a DSS

This paper deals with the selection of a supplier for cleaning services in a European public underground transportation company as established in the European Community directives, where several conflicting criteria, such as improving service levels and reducing total service costs, must be taken into account simultaneously. The problem is analyzed in depth using the decision analysis methodology, and a decision support system, the Generic Multi-Attribute Analysis system, is used to allay the operational difficulties involved. This system can deal with incomplete information about decision-maker preferences, accounts for uncertainty about offer performance, and uses so-called decision-making with partial information to identify the best offer, taking advantage of imprecise inputs.