Design of a web based multiagent system for electronic procurement

A novel design of a web-based multiagent system for procurement is presented. The proposed electronic marketplace (EM) is aimed to enhance the procurement process by acting as an intermediary between buyers and suppliers. The proposed EM consists of users (buyers and suppliers), various components, and a user interface. Components of the proposed EM include buyers' agents, suppliers' agents, a message engine, a decision engine, a knowledge base, and a transaction storage. As part of the decision engine, a prototype supplier selection system, SupplySelect, is developed and implemented. SupplySelect is based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process, a multi-criteria decision making technique.