You work for Wolverine Professional. Wolverine Professional serves as a professional construction manager to private companies and government agencies regarding project organization issues. Your boss just got a new project for Wolverine Professional and she has asked you to study it and advise the client on selecting the best project delivery system, financial contract type, and procurement method for the project. The project information is presented below as a series of facts and assumptions. Remember that there will be more than one way to select the 'best' project delivery system, financial contract type, and procurement method. This selection depends on what you consider to be the most important factors related to the project. The key is to have a logical and systematic analysis that is consistent with your client's overall needs. In the end, you are required to present just one method to your boss. You must also provide supporting arguments for the selection. PROJECT DESCRIPTION - COMDO EXPANSION PROGRAM Background You have been asked to advise one of the nation's fastest growing high tech companies, COMDO, on the best way to accomplish its expansion program. The following paragraphs present the provided information: Program Description COMDO's expansion program consists of two specific projects. In order to meet accelerating demand for its latest product, COMDO wants to build a new production facility (Project 1) on a site adjacent to its current facility in China. It is very important for COMDO to have a Signature building of High-Quality Design to project an image reflecting its new growth. COMDO also wants to consolidate its work force (currently housed in 4 different office buildings around the world) into a new 300,000 square foot office building (Project 2) to be built in the northeast region of Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United states. Project Drivers COMDO has advised you that it needs to have the production facility (Project 1) completed as quickly as possible. Money is no object, since the margins on its product are so high that it will be making lots of money every day the plant is operating. COMDO also believes that it has a 6-month window before any of its competitors will be able to develop a comparable product. Wall Street analysts have been advised of these facts and are expecting the production facility to be up-and-running in a short period of time to enable COMDO to maintain its competitive advantage. The facility is extremely complex, using the most advanced and latest clean-room technology, specialized mechanical and electrical equipment, and control systems. COMDO advises you that this facility will be a "one-of-a-kind project" and nothing like its other facilities. Successful completion of this facility will largely be dependent upon the completion of several objective performance tests that measure the ability of the plant to meet production needs. The office building (Project 2), on the other hand, does not pose any significant technical challenges. Its development is only complicated by the fact that the construction of the building will be phased, based primarily on how quickly COMDO can terminate its long-term leases on current spaces. In fact, it is possible that 100,000 square feet of the space will not be constructed and occupied until two years after the main building is completed. In addition, COMDO was awarded governmental support and funding to set up the office complex through a program that encourages growing high-tech companies to have a presence in the inner cities. The government also demanded COMDO to hire local companies to work on the project. All costs associated with the project need to be reported periodically to the governmental agency in order to receive the allocated funds. The budget allocated to the office building (Project 2) is a fixed amount which is very tight, and thus, any expenditure on the project will be monitored carefully by the governmental sponsoring agency. The governmental sponsoring agency has also assigned a Representative from the government side to work with COMDO's facilities department in delivering this project. However, you know from different sources that this Representative has earned a bad reputation with the local contractors based on past projects they have done with him in the Ann Arbor area. Owner Characteristics (COMDO) COMDO is run by young entrepreneurs who are unfamiliar with construction, but quite savvy in dealing with Wall Street. Management does not want to disappoint analysts and needs to demonstrate that it can competently handle this aggressive expansion program. Its facility department has basically focused in the last three years on managing space and office allocation demands of an increasing work force. The facility department typically hires a single third party general contractor for this work, although on some smaller projects, COMDO will directly hire the trade or sub-contractors without a general contractor with the assistance of professional construction management firms. Nobody in the facility department has ever built a new office building or a new production facility. COMDO upper management fully supports the program, but is skeptical of the capabilities of its facility department to handle something this complicated. Management has demonstrated a willingness to use outside consultants for a variety of business issues. You have found out, however, that the president of the company has a "hands-on" style and frequently likes to have the power to control even the smallest issues that the company faces. Marketplace Considerations The construction market is booming and all major A/Es and contractors are quite busy. There are, however, several qualified signature design-build firms that have the technical capability and interest in performing this work. None of them has ever worked with COMDO before. QUESTIONS 1. COMDO's president expects Wolverine Professional to provide a recommendation on the most appropriate way to structure the framework for its expansion program (i.e., you need to provide recommendations for the factory and office building projects separately), including project delivery system, financial contract type, and procurement method. You should analyze the two building projects separately and recommend a delivery system (develop relationship diagram), financial contract type, and procurement method for each. The analysis to determine the project delivery method, financial contract type and procurement method for each building should use the matrix format discussed in the Instructions to the Course Project video and slides. You are required to analyze 3 options for project delivery system per building, 3 options for financial contract type per building, and 2 options for procurement method per building. Please remember to document all your assumptions and rationale for the selection of criteria, scores, and weights given to each element of the matrix. Identify any issues, including characteristics of COMDO that could affect your recommendation. (66 Points) 2. Please write a memo as a cover sheet for your recommendation. The memo should provide a brief introduction to the project and an executive summary of the recommendation you are providing. (14 Points)