No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Following a period of rising costs, competitive tendering was introduced to the London bus industry in 1984. This thesis is an economic analysis of the impact of tendering on London bus services. Chapter 1 states the aims and objectives of the thesis in the context of the economics literature. The chapter is divided into two sections. In section 1 the literature is drawn upon to provide an economic interpretation of the state of the London bus industry prior to the introduction of tendering, and to provide an economic context for the introduction of tendering. In section 2 literature relating to the design of a tendering process is summarised. The focus is on the auction aspect of the tendering process and some important dimensions of contract specification. The impact of tendering on costs is analysed in chapter 2. Three questions are asked: What is the cost structure of the competitive London bus industry. Is there any evidence of strategic bidding behaviour as predicted by the auction theory literature. What level of cost saving can be attributed to tendering. The analysis is based on the full set of bid data from London bus tendering over the period 1985-1993 and is econometric in nature. The results are: there is no statistically significant difference in costs of operation between public and private sector operators under competition; bidding behaviour conforms to some features predicted by theoretical models; the estimated cost saving from tendering is 20%. Chapter 3 evaluates the impact of tendering on the demand for bus travel in London. The relationship between demand and service quality is estimated, gains to tendering are attributed in accordance with the increased service quality due to tendering. A statistically significant relationship between demand and service quality is found. The lowest estimate of revenue gained due to tendering is 9.6 million over the period 1987-1992 in 1992 prices. Chapter 4 estimates the welfare gain due to tendering, defined as the sum of changes in producer and consumer surplus due to tendering. The estimated welfare gain due to tendering is between 90 and 380 million over the period 1987-1992 in 1992 prices. An appendix to this chapter analyses the relationship between welfare and the type of contract upon which tendering is based. It is argued that a cost contract is preferable to a bottom line contract. Chapter 5 is based on an in depth series of interviews with key actors in the London bus industry. The aim here was to find out things that cannot be inferred from the data. Areas discussed include: the extent to which tendering as opposed to other factors led to change in the London bus industry; the source of cost savings; the impact of tendering on Labour; problems associated with tendering. Interviews suggested that: cost savings stemmed from wage reductions and productivity gains; there are some problems with the bidding process; there is a tension between bus planners and some bus company managers. In certain cases the tendering authority offered contract for tender in bundles. Chapter 6 analyses this policy from theoretical and empirical perspectives and asks was it optimal for the tendering authority. It is concluded that the policy should not be used by London Transport. Finally, in chapter 7, an overall assessment of the tendering process is presented. The focus is on results and policy implications for bus tendering in London and competitive tendering in general.

No description available.

No description available.

The role of the civil engineering estimator within the contractor's organisation has been well documented. Whilst this role and the estimators' tasks within the estimating and tendering process are well understood, little attention has been paid to estimators' expertise, how they make decisions at various stages within the tender period, the education and training needed to become an estimator and the psychological make-up of those whose work is fundamental to the survival and growth of the civil engineering contractor. Computer aided estimating systems have, for the last decade, been available to assist the work of the estimator. However, there remains debate concerning their contribution to the tasks of civil engineering estimators. The research incorporated: a detailed survey of the member companies of the Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors; semi-structured interviews of practising estimators; a study of career attributes by questionnaire and self assessment exercise; an empirical study of decision making based upon the technique of protocol analysis; and the development of a prototype expert system to assist estimators in the task of selecting subcontractors. The analysis of the estimators' decision making processes showed that 'expert, estimators operate within a hierarchy of goals and utilize mental checklists and templates to make decisions. Novice estimators repetitively collate information and then summarise on a general basis. Protocol analysis was demonstrated to be a suitable technique for studying the decision making processes of estimators. The technique was also found to make a significant contribution to the process of knowledge elicitation for expert system production. The study of estimators' past careers and experience established typical career profiles for the civil engineering estimator. These show both the formal education received and the practical experience gained before becoming an estimator. The attributes required by construction personnel wishing to take up a career in estimating were identified and a composite personality profile of the civil engineering estimator produced. The survey confirmed the importance of estimators' experience and expertise within the estimating and tendering process and showed that some 56% of the survey respondents currently used some form of computer aided estimating. The reasons for user dissatisfaction with current computer aided estimating systems were also identified. A prototype expert system developed to vet prospective subcontractors for construction work. This was shown to provide considerable assistance to estimators.

In the last decade, local authority leisure managers of the United Kingdom have operated in a constantly changing environment brought about by legislation, an ongoing increase in competition and increasing consumerism. Public sector leisure professionals have had to develop management strategies that not only allowed them to conform to legislative changes, but were flexible enough to respond to rapid increases in competition and customer expectations. One of the responses to this changing context has been the introduction of quality programmes into the management of public leisure facilities. This thesis establishes and investigates the rationale for the use of quality management as a management strategy within the public leisure sector. The research has three key objectives. (1) To establish what senior local authority leisure professionals consider to be the influences on the use of quality and quality programmes in local authority leisure facilities. (2) To establish how senior local authority leisure professionals conceptualise quality and quality management. (3) To establish what role these professionals played in the adoption of quality programmes within their local authority leisure facilities.