feasibility. Distinction can be made between technical
and political/social feasibility:
technical feasibility: it seems straightforward that alternatives should
be technical feasible. When the implementation of certain alternatives requires
the development of new techniques and/or technology, than the level of uncertainty
of a successful realization of such alternative is rather high. However, the
conclusion that such alternative is not feasible need not be automatically
drawn. Under special circumstances, the decision-makers may opt for such alternative
(for instance the Eastern Scheldt Storm Surge Barrier in The Netherlands,
where new techniques and technology needed to be developed for implementation
of the most promising alternative);
political/social feasibility. Political feasibility refers to the a priori
acceptance of an alternative within the administrative bodies. It is, however,
not easy to estimate the possibilities of realization on beforehand. Social
feasibility concerns the reactions of those who are directly or indirectly
affected by the project/policy.
robustness, which reflects the level of uncertainty of the anticipated
effects of alternatives. In general, an alternative which range of effects
is relatively narrow will be preferred above those with larger ranges around
comparable results;
reliability, which is the chance that an alternative at any random time
in future will fulfil the expectations. This implies that the alternative
will generate those (positive) effects that were foreseen.
flexibility. An alternative is relatively flexible when it can be used
for a solution of a slightly different problem. When it is expected that a
policy problem will chance in course of time, or when the rate of uncertainty
is considerable, than the factor flexibility can be determining;
duration of decision-making and implementation. Finally, an alternative
can be evaluated based on possible barriers in time. Certain alternatives
can be faster implemented than others.
dominance, which comes in the picture when a selection needs to be made
between variants of one alternative (one variant is better than the others).
cost. Usually, costs play a dominant role in decision-making.