in today’s highly competitive construction industry, companies must be capable to deal with various bidding situations successfully. When a company receives tender invitation the first step that needs to consider is to decide either to bid or not bid for a project, because it is a crucial decision for the contractor sustainability in the construction industry. There are various factors that affect the contractor decision, and these decisions are very much dependent on the type of project, economic and security conditions in that region. In short time frame it is very difficult for the project management team to make such crucial decision. The aim of the research study is to identify, explore and rank the relative importance of the critical factors determining the bidding decisions of contractors in Pakistan. For achieving study objective a structure questionnaire consisting of forty two factors based on previous research on bidding practices in construction industry were distributed amongst contractors. Feedback received from the professionals was analyzed through SPSS and by using “Relative importance technique” following factors were identified as critical factors in determining bid/no bid decisions (1) Location of project ; (2) Need for Work; (3) Size of Project; (4) Previous Experience of Contractor with Employer ; (5) Previous Experience in similar projects. Outcome of this research study can be used as guideline by the employers, consultants, contractors and policy makers in understanding the impact on contractor’s bidding behaviors in an environment demanding fast delivery and lower cost of constructed facilities. Moreover in order to take final decision to bid/no bid the contractor’s location is a vital consideration; hence a single standard criterion cannot be used to make bid/no bid decision for projects in different countries.

Keywords: bidding decisions, Construction Projects, Tendering, Pakistan