On the role of semismoothness in the implicit programming approach to selected nonsmooth optimization problems

Abstract: The paper deals with the implicit programming approach to a class of Mathematical Programs with Equilibrium Constraints (MPECs) and bilevel programs in the case when the corresponding reduced problems are solved using a bundle method of nonsmooth optimization. The results obtained allow us to supply the bundle algorithm with suitable, easily computable ``pseudogradients'', ensuring convergence to points satisfying a stationary condition. Both the theory and computational implementation heavily rely on the notion of SCD (subspace containing derivatives) mappings and the associated calculus. The approach is validated via a complex MPEC with equilibrium governed by a variational inequality of the 2nd kind and by an academic bilevel program with a nonsmooth upper-level objective.