AutoBid 2.0: The Microcomputer System for Police Patrol Vehicle Selection.

Published

February 1, 1996

Author(s)

S F. Weber

Abstract

This report is the user manual for a microcomputer system designed to help police fleet administrators select the patrol vehicle that is best suited to their needs. The system is called AutoBid and uses vehicle performance test data for police patrol package models published annually by the Michigan State Police. The system offers two vehicle selection methods: performance-based and value-based. Performance selection is based on vehicle test scores alone. It ranks vehicles by their overall test performance independent of cost. Value selection is based on both vehicle cost and test scores. It identifies which vehicle is the "BestBuy" in terms of the lowest cost for equivalent test performance and ranks the vehicles by the bid price adjusted for performance. Either or both of these methods may be used for a given fleet acquisition decision. Help screens explaining both the underlying concepts as well as how to use the software are available throughout the program. AutoBid runs on an MS-DOStm microcomputer with at least 512 kilobytes of RAM. It may be run from a floppy drive or it may be installed on a hard drive.

Citation

NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR) - 5787

Report Number

5787

NIST Pub Series

NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.IR.5787

Keywords

acquisition decisions, fleet administration, microcomputers, multi-attribute decisions, performance ranking, police patrol vehicles, police equipment, optimization, software, vehicles

Citation

Weber, S. (1996), AutoBid 2.0: The Microcomputer System for Police Patrol Vehicle Selection., NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.IR.5787 (Accessed October 27, 2025)