Rapid assessment and selection of engineered equipment suppliers

This paper describes the development and implementation of a decision support system to aid the selection of engineered equipment suppliers in the early stages of capital projects. Procurement of equipment is a complex process, which requires the evaluation of multiple suppliers against project targets. Analysis is usually performed manually, is time consuming, and certain tradeoffs may be overlooked. A consistent and applicable tool to support procurement decisions has been missing. The results of this research take significant steps to fill this gap. The system integrates historical data, market assessment, and bid information to aid commercial assessment and recommendation of suppliers. The supplier selection module uses the Aspiration Interactive Method (AIM) to analyze the information. Results of two selection cases were compared against firmsʹ recommendations. The system enables rapid evaluation and comparison of several supply alternatives, thereby improving the consistency and quality of commercial analysis in the early phases of projects.