AHP as a decision support tool in the multicriteria evaluation of bids in public procurement

Public procurement has been the focus of interest in many countries of the world. Selected offer in public procurement that is based on the criteria of the lowest price does not necessarily provide the best value for money. The paper discusses the problem of public procurement from the perspective of multicriteria analysis - in the case of the economically most advantageous offer. The possibility of applying the multicriteria analysis in the evaluation of bids in public procurement has been demonstrated through the business case study of a company that is liable for procurement and the selection was made according to the criterion of the lowest price. The metrics for evaluating the bids according to the criteria are proposed. Comparing the results obtained using the hierarchical model and the AHP methodology and simplified single-level model it was determined that the results of the priorities and ranking of alternatives are identical, which confirmed the possibility of applying simplified model in practice.