Decision-making in construction bidding represents a complex process due to
the present risk. Risk or uncertainty cannot be ignored and should be
treated as a constituent of decision-making. The paper aims to emphasize the
importance of probability theory by comparing insufficiently applicable
methods in practical bidding. The triangular distribution and the PERT
method belong to three-point estimate techniques, while payoff matrices
represent a multi-criteria approach. Also, selected methods belong to
quantitative techniques for risk cost analysis. Still, the risk costs
determination of the unit costs and the total costs of bids is often based
on an intuitive approach. Therefore, compared results of the triangular
distribution, PERT method, and payoff matrix techniques (minimin, minimax,
expected monetary value, and expected opportunity loss) indicate the
significance of risk costs estimating in tendering. The analysis of the
results showed some overlaps in risk costs values obtained by the PERT
method and expected monetary value technique. Those are due to the
specificity of the chosen practical example and cannot be adopted as a rule.
This means that selected methods and techniques are very useful for all bid
estimation. The paper proved the complexity of decision-making, where the
primary goal is to award a contract.