SCP-2614 — SCP-2614 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-2614 Safe ~ medium confidence

SCP-2614

Expected annual

$883K

One-time setup

$286K

Annual recurring

$850K

Personnel

One-time setup and containment upgrades are moderate (~$286k) driven by room buildout, secure archival systems, and development of safe-handling tooling; annual operating costs are dominated by staff wages, ongoing research, and contingency/reserve budgets (~$850k/yr).

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $286K

Initial Research And Lab Setup $120K

[#6, #8, #16] Forensic imaging/media-analysis kit and clean bench, custom navigation/control hardware & secure software tooling development, and initial SOP/training development costs.

Incident Response Reserve $100K

[#19] One-time reserve fund for large incident/containment responses (held as contingency).

Equipment $48K

[#1, #2, #5, #7, #9, #10, #25] Tamper-resistant safe + sensors, IR/RF isolation box, designated playback hardware, redundant archival servers/storage hardware, recording/capture equipment, initial bulk data storage, and archival-grade physical storage setup.

Facilities $15K

[#4] Controlled playback/test room upgrades (blackout, soundproofing, emergency ejects, unattended session support).

Chain Of Custody System $3K

[#3] Tamper-evident chain-of-custody and tracking system initial setup (RFID tagging, database, badge-swipe integration).

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $850K/yr

Staff Wages $520K/yr

[#11, #12, #13] Principal investigator allocation (~$120k/yr), research staff (2 RAs + 1 tech ~ $200k/yr), and security staffing (~4 FTEs ~ $200k/yr).

Research And Monitoring $150K/yr

[#20] Ongoing research budget for mapping mimetic universes and extended study (fieldwork, cross-disciplinary staff, software), baseline program level.

Cover Story And Legal $50K/yr

[#17] Legal, PR, cover-story contingency and content/license costs for rapid response to leaks or exposure.

It Cybersecurity $30K/yr

[#21] Hardened access control, encrypted databases, audits, and contracted sysadmin support.

Psychological Screening And Counseling $25K/yr

[#14] Annual pre/post-session counseling, screenings, and on-call counseling costs.

Incident Response Replenish $25K/yr

[#19] Annual replenishment target for incident/containment reserve after use.

Logistics And Transport $10K/yr

[#18] Secure transport/on-demand relocation budget (armored courier, packing, escorts) averaged as annual expected cost.

Ethical Oversight And Irb $10K/yr

[#24] Ethics/memetics review board costs, external reviewer stipends, and documentation.

Facilities Maintenance $8K/yr

[#22] Incremental electricity, climate control, UPS and HVAC costs for test room and archival storage.

Training And Sop Refreshers $6K/yr

[#16] Annual refresher training, drills, and SOP updates.

Misc Hardware Replacements $5K/yr

[#23] Replacement remotes, players, batteries, small test gear failures and calibration.

Data Backup Bandwidth And Storage $4K/yr

[#10] Ongoing backup bandwidth, off-site secure backups, and cloud/tape rotation costs (~$100–$500/mo equivalent).

Archival Storage Maintenance $3K/yr

[#7] Maintenance, rotation, and minor upgrades for secure isolated servers and encrypted backups.

Chain Of Custody System Maintenance $1K/yr

[#3] Annual maintenance, software hosting, and audit logs for the custody/tracking system.

Recording Replacement And Maintenance $1K/yr

[#9] Replacement/consumables and maintenance for video/audio capture and redundant recording systems.

Supplies And Consumables $1K/yr

[#15] Cleaning supplies (isopropyl alcohol, wipes, gloves), consumables for handling and disposal.

Playback Replacements $500/yr

[#5] Annual replacement budget for certified playback devices and 'safe' remotes.

Long Term Archival Maintenance $500/yr

[#25] Annual maintenance for archival-grade physical preservation (humidity control, sleeves).

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $850K/yr

84.0% probability / year

Normal year with regular research activity, maintenance, and no major incidents.

scheduled sessions routine maintenance no incidents

🚨 Minor Incident $900K/yr

5.0% probability / year +$50K vs baseline

Small unauthorized activation or brief staff exposure requiring overtime, short lockdown, and limited medical/forensic costs.

accidental activation localized exposure short containment response

🚨 Major Breach And Leak $1.4M/yr

1.0% probability / year +$500K vs baseline

Unauthorized copy/large leak or major containment breach requiring extensive legal/PR intervention, large-scale remediation and use of reserves.

unauthorized publication/leak large-scale exposure court action/major PR campaign

🚨 Research Expansion $1.1M/yr

10.0% probability / year +$250K vs baseline

Program decides to scale active mapping operations (more expeditions, higher storage, additional staff), increasing annual research spending.

funding approval for expanded mapping continuous long-duration sessions additional hires

👥 Personnel 8 total

Role	Count	Notes
Principal Investigator	1	[#11] Dr. Schmidt oversight; program allocation (salary portion included in staff_wages).
Research Assistant	2	[#12] Two RAs for observation, note-taking, and analysis (included in research staff budget).
Laboratory Technician	1	[#12] One technician for handling, cleaning, and equipment management (included in research staff budget).
Security Officer / MTF Agent	4	[#13] Four FTE-equivalents providing rotation coverage for monitoring during sessions (staffing cost included in staff_wages).

📋 Confidence Notes

Analyst notes provide detailed cost ranges for most line items and the object's Safe-class status reduces uncertainty, but anomalous and program-scale variables (research expansion, leak severity) introduce moderate uncertainty.

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