A Transparent and Ecologically Sustainable DLT-based Approach for Tendering Processes

Tendering processes aim to provide transparency in the trade of services or goods but often fall short, leading to corruption and loss of trust. The emergence of Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs), such as blockchain, has prompted research into their application for enhancing transparency in tendering. However, adopting DLT usually incurs extra costs, network fees, and high carbon footprints. This paper conducts a Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) process to select the most suitable DLT for tendering processes. As a result, a novel tendering process based on IOTA is proposed, which improves transparency, ensures ecological sustainability, and avoids extra costs. The IOTA-based approach also fosters collaboration between human and computer capabilities in selecting the tender winner. Our method is compared with existing approaches, demonstrating the highest transparency.