PMP Practice Test 2

Case study 2 — Riverside County Emergency Services Training Center (predictive)

You are the project manager for a general contractor building a two-story, 18,000-square-foot training center for Riverside County's fire and emergency medical services. The county's facilities director is the owner's representative, and the county fire chief is the main end user. The project uses a predictive approach: design is complete, permits are issued, and the scope, schedule and cost baselines were approved at the start.

The budget at completion (BAC) is $6,000,000 over 12 months. The project carries a contingency reserve for identified risks, which the project manager may use according to the risk management plan. A separate management reserve is held by the county and requires the sponsor's approval. Changes to any baseline must go through the county's change control board (CCB), which meets every two weeks.

Your team includes a site superintendent, a scheduler, a cost engineer and a safety manager. Structural steel, roofing and MEP work are subcontracted under fixed-price subcontracts. The county requires a monthly earned value report, and its governance policy says that any forecast overrun above 5% of BAC must be reported to the sponsor within one week.

Work is now at the end of month 6. Foundations and underground utilities are complete, the structural steel package is about to start, and mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) rough-in is planned to follow steel erection. Earned value data from the monthly progress report are shown below, together with an excerpt from the risk register.

Last week, the county board adopted a sustainability goal that new county buildings should produce part of their own energy. The fire chief has asked whether a rooftop solar array and battery storage can be added to the training center.