Construction Contractor Selection in Taiwan Using AHP

In Taiwan, construction-project owners sometimes divide contractor selection into two phases: prequalification and final selection. The first phase entails evaluating the contractors' prequalifications and is a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) process, with contractors evaluated based on the weighted sum of their criteria scores. However, the criteria weights are usually determined according to the opinions of the project owners or professionals and may have some shortcomings. This study applies the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to determine criteria weights and overcome these shortcomings. First, this study determines the appropriate evaluation criteria and constructs the hierarchical structure of the criteria. Second, experts' opinions are analyzed to calculate the following criteria weights: technical ability (0.243), management capability (0.239), financial soundness (0.219), reputation (0.168) and health and safety (0.131). The model proposed in this study for evaluating contractors' prequalifications can serve as a good reference for project owners in the process of selecting contractors.