Figure 1.
Figure 2.
Figure 3.
Innovation Metrics
| Sr | Contribution | Novelty | Section |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Submission less bid registration | Bidder does not have to submit the bid before bid opening day | II |
| 2 | Tamper-evident audit enable system | After getting the bid document the procurement host and other bidders can verify if the bid document is altered or genuine | II |
| 3 | Peer participation for better governance | Bidders are enabled to not only observe the process but also participate by sending queries. | II |
| 4 | No need of secure storage | Since the bid submission is required only at bid opening day. And data is open to all; there is no need to purchase and maintain online secure storage to store the bids. | II |
Payload generated with 5 bidders in bytes
| Sr | Message Type | Payload size |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ONGOING_PROCUREMENTS_RESUEST | 41 |
| 2 | ONGOING_PROCUREMENTS | 90 |
| 3 | REGISTER_BID | 166 |
| 4 | PROCUREMENT_INFO_REQUEST | 82 |
| 5 | PROCUREMENT_INFO | 433 |
| 6 | PUSH_CHALLENGES | 995 |
| 7 | PULL_CHALLENGES | 169 |
| 8 | CHALLENGES | 212 |
| 9 | PUSH_RESPONSES | 580 |
| 10 | BID_INFO_REQUEST | 74 |
| 11 | BID_INFO | 2396 |
| 12 | DISCLOSE_BID | 213 |
| Total | 5451 |
Simulation outcome with 5 bidders
| Sr | Bidder | Activity | Specifications | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Registration | 0–100* | d6f435b77ed2545dfa7ba496e246ea51a6c3931c3f2a813f63830209c6abd755 |
| 2 | 2 | Registration | 0–100 | 41487307562274ea9081df3a6b1dfefa32d49fdfa19736460e24ba8b76e3c5b0 |
| 3 | 3 | Registration | 0–100 | 0db5126c7488330795bd31d346b8237c9b02655f7c0942991ad2b50488cb4fac |
| 4 | 4 | Registration | 0–100 | d3c0a4807b780d43fbc240e325992b6173c8e0b1f1112ac88d258b721d821975 |
| 5 | 5 | Registration | 0–100 | 15cc5d4f2cb7be054a46bf0a61ec93c0d9282e8dfbfe74c04f26d02e62f75b28 |
| 6 | 1 | Challenge & Response | 22–97 | a9308f146199b7ca7b2a1a1171b88e6ed445a1cbb1779fb2d561161119b57cdc |
| 7 | 1 | Challenge & Response | 77–96 | f5023e83191250752a9d49da8a2bd46656d751b42f2fc867dcabfcadd815af86 |
| 8 | 1 | Challenge & Response | 84–90 | 68cb6480628178c33ad4fd170c63df5cf36f547dc28dbbc5361f3f8326225877 |
| 9 | 1 | Challenge & Response | 27–93 | 26ec16d4bf603c147074c4e33e7862f212b9569edb617eb30c984fd47ff4eb61 |
JSON based messages for communication
| Sr | Message | From | To | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ONGOING_PROCUREMENTS_RESUEST | Bidder | PH | A bidder send enquiry about ongoing procurements |
| 2 | ONGOING_PROCUREMENTS | PH | Bidder | PH sends list of ongoing procurements |
| 3 | REGISTER_BID | Bidder | PH | The bidder is willing to participate in procurement process. Makes the bid file and submit its hash. |
| 3 | PROCUREMENT_INFO_ REQUEST | Bidder | PH | A bidder requests list of bids received for the particular procurement |
| 4 | PROCUREMENT_INFO | PH | Bidder | Procurement Host shares the details |
| 6 | PUSH_RESPONSES | Bidder | PH | Bidder pushes calculated responses for each challenge |
| 7 | PULL_CHALLENGES | Bidder | PH | Bidder enquires about challenges related submitted bid. |
| 8 | CHALLENGES | PH | Bidder | Procurement host sends the list of challenges available for particular bid of the requesting bidder. |
| 9 | BID_INFO_REQUEST | Bidder | PH | A bidder requests list of bids received and related challenges and responses. |
| 10 | BID_INFO | PH | Bidder | Procurement Host sends data of all the bids received under a specified procurement along with challenges and responses |
| 11 | PUSH_CHALLENGES | Bidder | PH | A bidder issues challenges against a specific bid registered with respect to the particular procurement. |
| 12 | DISCLOSE_BID | Bidder | PH | A bidder discloses bid document. Can either share the path or submit the file |
Existing methodology and limitations
| Sr | Existing methodology | Limitations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bid submission on the distributed ledger | Requires special and extensive setup. Need reasonable number of nodes to maintain the copies of ledger [29, 30] |
| 2 | Submitting the bid in the encrypted form by using PKI | The risk with this approach is possibility of key access by the vendor [34, 35] |
| 3 | Submitting the bid in any form | Possibility of data leakage while transmission. If a host is vulnerable and compromised then adversary can access the bids. |
| 4 | Possible chip level manipulation | Possible data leakage by the hardware; difficult to detect and prevent [36, 37] |
Brute force possibility check
| Sr | Attribute | Blank .docx | Blank .pdf |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Size in bytes | 13,536 | 24,827 |
| 2 | 1% of size in bytes | 135 | 248 |
| 3 | 1% of size in bits (‘2’ × 8) | 1080 | 1984 |
| 4 | Possible combinations | 21080 | 21984 |
| 5 | Changing the base to 10 | 1.29 × 10325 | 1.75 × 10597 |