The private sector is profit-driven and will take all necessary steps to ensure their money is not unnecessarily spent. A significant loss or mismanagement of money places private companies at risk of not paying their employees, poor standing in the stock market, or even bankruptcy and business closure. The public sector is not profit-driven, and there is little incentive to reduce project costs or manage projects within an established budget.

For example, in 2005, the US Air Force initiated a project named the Expeditionary Combat Support System (ECSS). The ECSS was a system that would replace more than 200 legacy Air Force information systems. After spending over $1.03 billion to develop the system, the Air Force abandoned the project in 2017 after concluding it would cost an additional $1.1 billion to finish development. Further, the ECSS would not be available for use until after 2020. The project was complex and was to integrate systems that were not designed to communicate between platforms easily. It is evident that several failures occurred, preventing the ECSS from being fully developed and implemented to support the Air Force.

• Identifyreasonswhy the US Air Force's ECSS project failed.
• Identifykey stepsthe Air Force could have taken to manage the risk that the complexity of the project posed to the successful development of the ECSS.
• If you were advising the Air Force on the project, would you have recommended the Air Force terminate the project before expending the initial $1.03 billion? Identify thespecific reason or factorsyou would have used to support your recommendation.