Construction material procurement using Internet-based agent system

Conventional material purchasing has some problems related with solicitation process, such as searching for suppliers and obtaining product data information. E-trading portals may reduce the problems; however, new problems occur due to their approaches to build a closed system with their own customers and suppliers. In this research, a decentralized database system equipped with electronic agents for material procurement is proposed. Results showed that this system can be used to assist human purchasers to carry out solicitation in identifying suppliers, searching materials, and preparing purchase orders.