School meals and pupil satisfaction. Evidence from Italian primary schools

This paper aims to analyse to what extent pupils value the characteristics of the state school foodservice and identify which variables affect the degree of pupils’ satisfaction with the quality of school meals. A representative sample of 33 state primary schools providing meals was extracted for the metropolitan city of Naples. Two questionnaires were distributed, one to the headteachers concerned and the other to 5th grade pupils (10–11 years old). Information about the catering companies was mainly sourced from the AIDA database. Pupil satisfaction was measured by two key variables: pleasantness of eating at school and food tastiness. Controlling for pupil, family, school, foodservice and catering company characteristics, the paper shows that the catering company size negatively impacts upon pupil satisfaction with the foodservice, whereas the estimated meal average production cost is positively associated with pupil satisfaction. The study could assist city boroughs in devising meal quality indicators to be taken into account in designing competitive tendering.     

公路工程建设项目招投标管理现状分析

介绍了公路工程建设项目招投标管理的概念．通过对国内外招投标程序和国内招投标管理的体制及法规文件的解释,分析比较了国内公路工程招投标与国际惯例,说明建设工程招投标的规范化管理,直接影响到我国建筑市场的秩序,利于市场机制的充分发挥。     

招投标方式政策性金融:运转条件、发展空间与相关框架探讨

以招投标方式探索政策性金融服务市场化运作的新型模式具有重要意义,但由于政策性融资需求的多样化,具有明显约束条件的招投标方式,在可以预见的将来,尚难在政策性金融业务领域包打天下。本文分析了招投标方式政策性金融的内涵与特点、延伸指向、动因和运转条件,以及适用领域和可预期的发展空间,建议在探索政策性融资规律、适当多元发展的思路上,将招投标方式纳入到我国政策性金融体系发展的通盘规划和整体框架中来考虑。     

距离综合评价法在工程招投标中的应用

本文以招投标项目的多方案选优为研究目的,建立了距离综合评价决策模型,很好地解决了“综合评估法“主观性、随意性大的问题,并通过实例验证了方法的可行性,具有一定的应用价值.     

Decision making framework for tender evaluation and contractor selection in public organizations with risk considerations

Selecting the best construction contractor plays a critical role in the success of any construction project. Moreover, in the public sector, the traditional lowest bid method is still broadly used and contracts are often awarded based on the lowest price. However, this method has been criticized by many researchers because even if it might guarantee the lowest cost for a project, it does not guarantee the maximum value in terms of time and quality. More particularly, the risk exposure during the tendering process is usually very high and the success of the construction project is strongly related to managing this risk in an appropriate way. Therefore, the selection of the most appropriate contractor should be based on a set of criteria such as technical capability, financial stability, risk, safety, etc., in addition to cost in order to avoid problems that may happen after the contract is awarded. This study aims therefore to develop a decision making framework (DMF) to assist the public organizations in selecting the most appropriate construction contractor(s). The proposed DMF uses a combination of multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) tools and fuzzy logic theory and consists of three stages. In the first stage, data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to reduce the number of contractors, based on multiple criteria, such that only efficient contractors are considered. In the second stage, the risk factors that are related to each efficient contractor are identified and assessed using a fuzzy logic based approach. Finally, in the third stage, a bi-objective mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model is developed to select the best contractor(s) based on cost and risk and to determine the optimal quantity of work to be assigned to each selected contractor. Indeed, the proposed approach considers the multiple award contract case in which more than one contractor can be selected to share the amount of work to be performed. We assume that prior to using the proposed DMF, a pre-qualification study is conducted using multiple criteria chosen by the public organization, and only pre-qualified contractors are included in the first stage of the proposed DMF. Moreover, a case study inspired from the contractor selection process in a public organization in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is used to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

COMPETITION AND SAFETY IN UK LOCAL AUTHORITIES. An empirical study

A number of studies throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s were able to highlight economic gains from the policy of Compulsory Competitive Tendering (CCT) in the UK. Claims have been made that this economic gain was achieved by financial savings brought about by deterioration in the terms and conditions of employees. Far less is known about the impact of CCT on the occupational health and safety of direct and subcontracted employees engaged in public service provision. Much of the literature which does exist on the impact on occupational health and safety of privatization generally, asserts that its effect has been negative. This article addresses the question of the impact of CCT on occupational health and safety on the basis of triangulation of three methodological approaches. Although the current UK government has abandoned the CCT process, it has replaced it with a policy of ‘Best Value’, a policy which will apply to all local authority services. Best Value does not contain the same element of compulsion, but it is likely that many of the organizational and commercial pressures introduced by CCT will continue. Against that back-drop, it is concluded that CCT may have exposed pre-existing deficiencies in local authority health and safetysystems. Strategies have been developed to address many of these deficiencies in CCT services. Services previously not subject to CCT will now be required to address these problems and solutions as a consequence of the Best Value regime.     

综合评估法在南京地铁项目评标中应用研究

对工程项目招标中的综合评估法和经评审的最低投标价法进行比较，阐述了综合评估法的含义、评标过程，着重探讨了南京地铁项目综合评估法的设计，包括理论依据、评标因素及权重的确定、分值的确定以及具体的运用，分析了综合评估法在南京地铁评标中应用的效果和经验。