Optimizing the Procurement of Aviation Fuels

Abstract

Defense Department requirements for aviation fuels are met with purchases made in the usual competitive bidding environment. This large-scale contract bidding and selection problem is modeled as a mixed integer linear program with a special structure. The solution of this large optimization problem is approached via an algorithm employing decomposition and implicit enumeration techniques which exploit the special structure of the underlying formulation. Computational results and other considerations are discussed.