Saratoga National Park Case

The Department of the Interior has named the Saratoga Mountain area a national park. It is in the planning stages of developing a campsite area over 500 acres of currently undeveloped land. This campsite will span the extremities of the park, from the proposed Mission Creek Campsite area in the west to the Wild Coyote Campsite area in the east.

At this time, all the contracts for this project have been awarded, with the exception of selecting the company that will develop the management information system (MIS) for Saratoga National Park. The three bidders for this contract are: (1) QM Associates, (2) MS Info structures, and (3) the SBAE Company.

The project has been subdivided into 10 individual activities, as depicted in the PERT/CPM network on the next page. Activity J is the MIS task.

Based on similar projects, it has been possible to determine a cost/time correspondence between the various activities of the project. The normal and crash costs and times (in weeks) are given in the following table.

Activity F, which will be performed by Ellis Electric, involves laying the electrical able for the project. To minimize its cost, Ellis Electric will design the system to use the least amount of electrical cable.

Ellis Electric will charge the government an amount between $\$ 100,000$ and $\$ 200,000$. For $\$ 100,000$, Ellis Electric can assign enough workers to lay 300 feet of cable per week. For $\$ 200,000$, Ellis will assign additional workers to lay 500 feet of cable each week.

Activity I involves constructing one (narrow) paved two-lane road from Mission Creek in the west to Wild Coyote in the east. This work will be done by Harriman Construction. To minimize the costs, the department will pay Harriman to build the road of minimum distance between the two campsites. At a cost to the government of $\$ 25,000$ per week, 200 feet of roadway can be completed in a week. If the cost is increased to $\$ 36,000$ per week, the completion rate will increase to 250 feet per week.

Due to the heavy brush and mountainous nature of the area, 13 possible dirt paths exist between the campsites. Neither Ellis Electric nor Harriman Construction is permitted to clear out additional areas for constructing either underground cable or the paved road. Thus the electrical cable must be laid, and the road must be built along areas of the dirt paths. Below is a map of the possible dirt paths between campsites showing distances in feet.

Each of three companies competing for the MIS task has been asked to submit a minimal cost and a minimal time (in weeks) bid. The bids are summarized in the following table.

The "grand opening" of Saratoga National Park has been scheduled for exactly 52 weeks from now. It is imperative that the project be completed within the 52 week period because a delay of even one day in the opening of the park would result in revised travel costs for the dignitaries, lost income to the park, and other expenses.

Based on the given time and cost estimates, prepare a report giving the costs and scheduling for each activity so that the project will be completed within 52 weeks at minimum total cost to the Department of the Interior. Be sure to emphasize the assumptions you made to perform your analysis. Include in your paper:

- A recommendation for which firm should be awarded the MIS contract and its funding level

- A recommendation for the layout and funding for the Ellis Electric cable-laying activity

- A recommendation for the design and funding for the Harriman Construction paved road activity

Price: $19.12

Solution: The downloadable solution consists of 10 pages, 912 words and 12 charts.
Deliverable: Word Document