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SCP-175 Safe ~ medium confidence
SCP-175
Expected annual
$914K
One-time setup
$377K
Annual recurring
$905K
Personnel
12
One-time setup and a contingency reserve drive upfront costs (~$377k); annual recurring costs are dominated by security staffing and readiness (~$905k/yr), with field excavations and incident response as the main variable drivers.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $377K
Contingency Reserve $250K
[#22] One-time reserve fund recommended for large remediation, legal crises, or high-cost discoveries.
Equipment $43K
[#1, #5, #6, #7, #16, #17] Purchase safe (incl. installation), tamper/activation instrumentation, hardened transport case, field/GPR kit, initial database/IT setup, shelving/boxes for archives.
Facilities $34K
[#2, #13] Reinforce storage room (upgraded door/frame, sensors) and controlled test-site setup/site-prep for burial program (one-time site prep and permits).
Initial Research And Lab Setup $25K
[#23] Specialized conservation/testing instruments and initial research lab analysis equipment (multispectral scanners, microscopes, high-res imaging).
Background Checks Initial $15K
[#18] Initial background checks / clearance processing for core team (~15 people).
Front Company Setup $5K
[#15] One-time front-company / cover-operations establishment costs.
Sop Development $5K
[#19] Initial SOP development and initial training session costs.
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $905K/yr
Staff Wages $725K/yr
[#3, #12, #25] Security guards (9 FTE @ ~$65k/yr each) plus research staff FTE and program manager/admin support.
Cover Story And Legal $45K/yr
[#14, #15] Legal retainer/liaison and annual cover-operations budget (landowner compensation, front-company ops).
Alarm Monitoring $40K/yr
[#4] Ongoing alarm/CCTV monitoring and SOC overhead incremental costs.
Logistics And Transport $25K/yr
[#6, #24] Vehicle allocation/maintenance if dedicated and travel/lodging budget for field teams.
Research And Monitoring $15K/yr
[#12, #13, #23] Research programs (test cycles, test-subject stipends, controlled-burial test cycles) and recurring calibration/maintenance for research activities (excludes instrument maintenance explicitly listed elsewhere).
Eod Training And Overhead $10K/yr
[#10] Annual training, supplies and readiness overhead for EOD responses.
Contingency Replenishment $10K/yr
[#22] Annual replenishment target for contingency reserve to maintain readiness.
Hazmat Readiness Budget $6K/yr
[#11] Annual readiness budget for HAZMAT supplies, PPE, and contractor standby.
Excavation Average Annual $4K/yr
[#8] Expected average annual excavation costs (assumes low baseline activation frequency: ~0.2 excavations/yr at moderate cost).
Field Kit Maintenance $3K/yr
[#7] Calibration and maintenance for GPR/magnetometer/GPS and related field kit gear.
Database Hosting And Backups $3K/yr
[#16] Hosting, encrypted backups, and audits for logs/documentation.
Archiving Storage Overhead $3K/yr
[#17] Climate-controlled storage overhead and item-storage costs.
Background Check Renewals $3K/yr
[#18] Periodic renewal costs for personnel clearances and background rechecks.
Sop Refreshers $3K/yr
[#19] Annual refresher training and SOP updates for new staff.
Facilities Maintenance $3K/yr
[#2, #17, #21] Storage-room incremental maintenance, archival storage overhead, and incremental HVAC/energy for vault.
Supplies And Consumables $2K/yr
[#20] Consumables, PPE, evidence bags, tamper seals, labeling supplies.
Specialized Instruments Maintenance $2K/yr
[#23] Maintenance/calibration for multispectral imaging and conservation/testing instruments.
Tamper Instrumentation Maintenance $2K/yr
[#5] Data storage, logging, and minor maintenance for tamper/activation sensors and imaging.
Forensic Processing Average Annual $1K/yr
[#9] Expected average annual forensic/archaeological processing costs for occasional finds.
Eod Callout Average Annual $500/yr
[#10] Expected average annual incremental EOD callout costs (small baseline frequency assumed).
Hazmat Incident Average Annual $500/yr
[#11] Small expected annual average for occasional minor contamination incidents.
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $905K/yr
86.0% probability / year
Typical year with no major discoveries; routine maintenance, staffing, occasional small activations handled by readiness budgets.
no_major_excavations routine_maint/monitoring occasional_minor_activation
🚨 Minor Activation $942K/yr
12.0% probability / year +$37K vs baseline
One moderate excavation/discovery during the year requiring backhoe rental, short forensic processing and modest EOD/cover actions.
single_moderate_excavation forensic_processing limited_eod_or_cover_actions
🚨 Major Discovery $1.1M/yr
2.0% probability / year +$200K vs baseline
Rare high-cost discovery (complex excavation, extensive forensic work, EOD operations, legal/crisis response, conservation), driving large incremental expenses.
complex_multi-day_excavation human_remains_or_sensitive_artifacts EOD_and_legal_crisis
👥 Personnel 12 total
Role Count Notes
Security Officer / MTF Agent 9 [#3] Two guards on-site at all times (three shifts, coverage requires ~9 FTE).
Research Scientist 1 [#12] Primary scientist(s) responsible for controlled testing and analysis (0.5–1.0 FTE approximated to 1 headcount).
Program Manager / Executive Staff 1 [#25] Program coordination and liaison responsibilities (part-time FTE but single headcount).
Administrative Staff 1 [#25] Administrative support for scheduling, permits, and documentation.
📋 Confidence Notes
Line-item costs (equipment, staffing, per-event ranges) are well described; largest uncertainty is activation frequency and per-event severity, which drives significant variance in annual spending.
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