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On the Computational Complexity of Bilevel Integer Linear Programming

Optimization and Control 2026-07-16 v1

Abstract

We investigate the computational complexity of bilevel integer linear programming. While Jeroslow~(1985) established that the decision version of this problem is Σ2p\Sigma^p_2-complete when restricted to binary variables, we prove that this Σ2p\Sigma^p_2-completeness persists even for general integer variables, settling a question that remained open for over 40 years. Furthermore, we analyze the impact of various structural assumptions on computational complexity. Notably, we strengthen the result of K\"oppe et al.~(2010) by proving polynomial-time solvability whenever the total number of upper- and lower-level variables is fixed, without any additional assumptions.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.15369,
  title  = {On the Computational Complexity of Bilevel Integer Linear Programming},
  author = {Nagisa Sugishita and Margarida Carvalho},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.15369},
  year   = {2026}
}

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12 pages