Patent ID: 8266626

Claim:
A method for enabling a resource-consuming computer to perform as a virtual organization resource consumer in a virtual organization, the method comprising: sending, by a data processing system, a request for proposal (RFP) to a plurality of resource providers associated with the virtual organization, the RFP being descriptive of a proposed data processing task; after sending the RFP, receiving, by the data processing system, one or more RFP responses each associated with a respective resource provider in the virtual organization, the one or more RFP responses each including one or more indicators of estimated data processing task parameters associated with proposed future execution of the proposed data processing task by the respective resource provider on the network; detecting, by the data processing system, an exception condition for a selected one of the one or more RFP responses; and in response to detecting the exception condition for the selected one of the one or more RFP responses, automatically determining, by the data processing system, whether the exception condition will be waived and thereby enabling the selected one of the one or more RFP responses for acceptance by the resource consumer, wherein detecting the exception condition for the selected one of the one or more RFP responses further comprises: computing, by the data processing system, a performance capability measure for the respective resource provider associated with the selected one of the one or more RFP responses, the performance capability measure being calculated from multiple data processing task parameter indicators from the selected one of the one or more RFP responses.