One of NDS' services is its support desk. The online support works as follows : Customers who are experiencing technical problems , or who simply have questions enter a one-on-one online "chat room", where they can interact directly with an expert. Problems are usually resolved within 6 minutes and customers have listed it as one of the top three reasons why they retain NDS. Presently, NDS has enough capacity to handle up to 1,000,000 requests per year, although management doesn't expect the number of requests to change much from the current level of 800,000 per year. The demand for NDS service is so high that the company now has the opportunity to expand into Western Canada. However, due to its inexperience with the Western- Canadian region, NDS has decided to outsource its online support desk. After putting out a bid for proposals to companies in Western Canada, NDS has short- listed three (3) proposals for consideration . Based on industry research, NDS Management has concluded that these three (3) companies being considered are equally suitable to meet NDS' level of service requirements . NDS Management has