Using competitive dialogue in EU public procurement-Early trends and future developments

Affordable and timely implementation of complex infrastructure projects is crucial to the completion of the EU Internal Market and meeting deadlines for the implementation of EU environmental legislation. Competitive Dialogue was created by the 2004 Public Procurement Directives as a new and more flexible solution for public authorities wanting to award contracts for such projects. But some predicted that it might be used only rarely and others saw problems in applying it effectively to obtain value for money for the public sector. Yet it is now firmly established in Europe as a means of awarding public contracts, with more than 3000 award procedures launched. This article assesses how and where the procedure has been used so far and the challenges at European and national level for using it effectively in future

Fuzzy interval net present value

In this paper we conjugate the operative usability of the net present value with the capability of the fuzzy and the interval approaches to manage uncertainty. Our fuzzy interval net present value can be interpreted, besides the usual present value of an investment project, as the present value of a contract in which the buyer lets the counterpart the possibility to release goods/services for money amounts that can vary, at time instants that can also vary. The buyer can reduce the widths of these variations by paying a cost. So, it is "natural" to represent the good/service money amounts and the time instants by means of triangular fuzzy numbers, and the cost of the buyer as a strictly increasing function of the level a in [0, 1] associated to the generic cut of the fuzzy interval net present value. As usual, the buyer is characterized by a utility function, depending on a and on the cost, that he/she has to maximize. As far the interest rates regard, we assume that the economic operators are only able to specify a variability range for each of the considered period interest rate. So, we represent the interest rates by means of interval numbers. Besides proposing our model, we formulate and solve the programming problems which have to be coped with to determine the extremals of the cut of the fuzzy interval net present value, and we deal with some questions related to the utility function of the buyer.net present value, fuzzy set theory, interval number theory, alpha-cut, utility function

ESTIMATING THE IMPACTS OF DIFFERING PRICE-RISK MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES ON THE NET INCOME OF SALINAS VALLEY LETTUCE PRODUCERS: A STOCHASTIC SIMULATION APPROACH

While government safety-net programs are used to mitigate the price risk for commodity producers, limited programs exist for specialty crop producers. Specialty crop producers utilize forward contracts to reduce downside price risk. In order to estimate the method of price-risk management, if any, that is preferable to selling at market determined prices, a stochastic simulation model was constructed. The completed simulation model was used to estimate probability distributions for Salinas Valley net income under different pricing scenarios. Probabilities of reaching various net income thresholds were compared. Results indicate that Salinas Valley lettuce producers should maximize profitability by using forward contracts.Farm Management, Risk and Uncertainty,

Towards Autonomic Service Provisioning Systems

This paper discusses our experience in building SPIRE, an autonomic system for service provision. The architecture consists of a set of hosted Web Services subject to QoS constraints, and a certain number of servers used to run session-based traffic. Customers pay for having their jobs run, but require in turn certain quality guarantees: there are different SLAs specifying charges for running jobs and penalties for failing to meet promised performance metrics. The system is driven by an utility function, aiming at optimizing the average earned revenue per unit time. Demand and performance statistics are collected, while traffic parameters are estimated in order to make dynamic decisions concerning server allocation and admission control. Different utility functions are introduced and a number of experiments aiming at testing their performance are discussed. Results show that revenues can be dramatically improved by imposing suitable conditions for accepting incoming traffic; the proposed system performs well under different traffic settings, and it successfully adapts to changes in the operating environment.Comment: 11 pages, 9 Figures, http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/wo.jsp?WO=201002636

Quality Uncertainty and Grain Merchandising Risk: Vomitoxin in Spring Wheat

Marketing, Risk and Uncertainty,

PROCUREMENT STRATEGIES TO MEET FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS IN WHEAT SHIPMENTS

Consistency of functional characteristics in wheat is a concern confronting buyers and sellers. This research analyzes the cost and risk of different procurement strategies for importers. A stochastic simulation model is used to determine the probability of a functional characteristic being satisfied subject to quality targets. Joint probabilities of meeting specifications and costs were determined for alternative functional characteristics. Results indicate that, as more specific characteristics are incorporated into a contract, the probabilities of meeting end-use requirements increase. Specific characteristics come with a higher cost, due to increased testing costs related to identity preservation. The results are summarized as cost/risk tradeoffs confronting buyers in wheat procurement.buying strategies, location, variety, functional characteristic tests, costs, risks, Crop Production/Industries, International Relations/Trade,

BIOTECHNOLOGY IN AGRICULTURE: IMPLICATIONS FOR FARM-LEVEL RISK MANAGEMENT

This study examines the risks associated with adoption of biotech crops and discusses their implications for risk management at the farm level. We develop an analytical risk evaluation matrix framework to illustrate changes in production and marketing risks of biotech and non-biotech crops. Price uncertainty generated by consumer concerns is the major risk facing biotech farmers, while cross-pollination with biotech crops and preservation of non-biotech status are major concerns for non-biotech farmers. Improved market infrastructure to handle biotech products and modification of the current risk management tools to accommodate new risks are essential in reducing the farm-level risks.biotechnology, genetically modified organisms, marketing risks, production risks, risk evaluation matrix, risk management, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Risk and Uncertainty,

Production Control and Production Contracts: Why Do Integrators Control Inputs?

Industrial Organization,