Due Date: April 17, 2014
The assignment will be completed on an individual basis.
Your submission should be a maximum of 5 pages.
Please submit your assignment in PDF format. Use the SLATE drop box to submit your assignment.
Please remember to include a bibliography if applicable and to attribute ideas to the proper sources.
Altex
Background
Following World War II, the United States entered into a Cold War with Russia. To win the Cold War, the United States had to develop sophisticated weapons systems with such destructive power that any aggressor knew that the retaliatory capability of the United States could and would inflict vast destruction.
Hundreds of millions of dollars were committed to ideas concerning technology that had not been developed yet. Aerospace and defense contractors were growing without bounds, thanks to cost-plus-percentage-of-cost contract awards. Speed and technological capability were judged to be significantly more important than cost. To make matters worse, contracts were often awarded to the second or third most qualified bidder for the sole purpose of maintaining competition and maximizing the total number of defense contractors.
Contract Award
During this period Altex Corporation was elated when it learned that it had just been awarded the R&D phase of the Advanced Tactical Missile program (ATMP). The terms of the contract specified that Altex had to submit to the Army, within 60 days after contract award, a formal project plan for the two-year ATMP effort. Contracts at that time did not require a risk management plan be developed. A meeting was held with the project manager of R&D to assess the risks in the ATMP effort.
PM: "I 'm in the process of developing the project plan. Should I also develop a risk management plan as part of the project plan?"
Sponsor: "Absolutely not! Most new weapons systems requirements are established by military personnel who have