Optimal Subcontractor Selection Plan in Construction Projects

Visiting Postdoctoral Research Scholar

Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering

Illinois Institute of Technology

Thursday, March 13 | 12 p.m. | 223 Jarvis

The construction industry is valued at over $12 trillion globally and is projected to reach $15 trillion by 2030. Subcontracting is a widespread practice in many construction projects.  The general contractor’s traditional subcontractor selection process involves hiring a subcontractor that offers the lowest price to perform a work package and repeating this process for each work package in the project.

This study presents a powerful and game-changing model that enhances the subcontractor selection process by optimizing multiple critical project objectives, including cost, duration, quality, safety, and environmental impact. Unlike traditional methods that focus on individual subcontractor selection based solely on cost or familiarity, this model introduces a holistic approach that aligns the subcontractor selection process with overarching project goals.

It integrates three advanced methodologies: Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) for evaluating subcontractor candidates, Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II (NSGA-II) for generating Pareto-optimal subcontracting plans, and the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) for selecting the best compromise solution.

The model effectively handles the complexity of selecting optimal subcontractor combinations. The proposed model optimizes the actual project outcomes by providing better results in terms of project duration, quality, safety, and environmental impact. This innovative framework not only addresses the multidimensional challenges of subcontractor selection but also establishes a paradigm shift in construction project management by emphasizing early, data-driven, and multi-objective optimization of subcontracting plans.

Befrin N. Bingol serves as a Visiting Postdoctoral Research Scholar in the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering of Illinois Institute of Technology since 2022. After receiving her Bachelor's and a Master’s degree in civil engineering from Gaziantep University, she worked as a project manager for five years on major infrastructure projects in Turkiye.

She received her PhD degree from Istanbul Technical University. Her main research field is construction management. She published several journal and conference papers, and contributed to several research projects. She served as an Assistant Professor in the Civil Engineering Department at Sirnak University in Turkiye for more than five years before joining Illinois Tech in 2022.