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SCP-4539 Pending ~ medium confidence
SCP-4539
Expected annual
$112K
One-time setup
$66K
Annual recurring
$106K
Personnel
4
First-year one-time setup is approximately $66.5k driven by containment hardware, paint/pathing, policy/SOP creation, and an initial testing/forensic budget; ongoing annual costs are about $105.6k driven primarily by blind test creation, neurocognitive screening, legal/incident reserves, and staff labor.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $66K
Initial Research And Lab Setup $40K
[#12, #13] Controlled testing campaign and forensic/provenance analysis (research campaign ~$30,000; forensic analysis ~$10,000).
Equipment $4K
[#4, #11, #20, #21, #26] One-time equipment: signage setup ($250), surveillance hardware ($2,000), small environmental monitor/desiccant ($500), spare calculators ($125), secure transport case/templates ($1,500).
Policy And Sop Development $4K
[#5] Development of non-numeric communication SOPs, training materials, legal review, layout (~$2.5k–$6k; mid estimate).
Oversight Setup $4K
[#25] Background/ethics oversight & IRB-like administrative setup for human testing (~$2k–$6k; mid estimate).
Inventory And Repainting $3K
[#3] Initial inventory sweep and repaint/dispose/replace other pink objects on-site (mid-range estimate).
Replacement Device Contingency $3K
[#28] One-time contingency to acquire replacement calculators / funds for extended study ($1k–$5k; mid estimate).
Sop Updates $2K
[#19] One-time changes to operating procedures and site-wide communications protocol (documentation update/printing).
Software Ui Updates $2K
[#24] One-time updates to local signage/digital UIs near containment to remove numerals (development & QA).
Facilities $2K
[#1, #2] Secure containment locker purchase/installation and bright-pink paint/strip installation (locker $1,300 + paint/stripe ~$575).
Initial Training Time $800
[#6] Initial per-staff training time cost (~2 hrs/person × 10 people @ $40/hr = $800 initial).
Cue Cards Supplies $400
[#22] Low-tech workaround supplies (laminated cue-cards, metaphor lists) one-time purchase.
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $106K/yr
Research And Monitoring $41K/yr
[#8, #14, #15, #19] Recurring research and monitoring: blind test creation/grading (~$23,400/yr), baseline & periodic neurocognitive screening (~$14,000/yr), medical monitoring/counseling (~$3,250/yr), SOP refresher costs (~$500/yr).
Incident Response Reserve $25K/yr
[#16] Contingency fund for incident response, emergency audits, overtime and mitigation (recommended baseline reserve).
Staff Wages $20K/yr
[#6, #7, #9, #10, #11, #18, #25] Recurring labor costs: proctor/part-time labor, surveillance review analyst, recruitment/onboarding admin, scheduling/admin, oversight compliance (aggregated part-time wages and labor overhead including short-handling/read time and training refreshers).
Cover Story And Legal $12K/yr
[#17] Annual legal/cover-story/FOIA handling and retained counsel (~$5k–$20k; mid estimate).
Logistics And Transport $5K/yr
[#26] Emergency relocation / staff overtime reserve for secure transport and ad-hoc relocation operations (~$5,000/yr reserve).
Supplies And Consumables $1K/yr
[#22, #23, #27] Consumables and janitorial: cue-card replacements, contaminated records disposal, gloves/wipes/labels.
Software Ui Maintenance $500/yr
[#24] Ongoing maintenance for local UI/signage changes to avoid numerals near containment.
Facilities Maintenance $200/yr
[#4] Signage and path-marking maintenance (periodic reapplication of floor stripe, sign upkeep).
Environmental Controls Maintenance $100/yr
[#20] Replacement desiccants / small environmental monitor upkeep for locker (~$100/yr).
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $106K/yr
85.0% probability / year
Normal uneventful year with standard monitoring, testing, and reserves in place.
standard operations no containment incidents scheduled testing only
🚨 Minor Incident $121K/yr
5.0% probability / year +$15K vs baseline
Small containment/protocol deviation requiring overtime, localized repairs, and extra audits/testing.
protocol deviation local numeric miscommunication limited exposure requiring extra audits
🚨 Research Scaleup $166K/yr
10.0% probability / year +$60K vs baseline
Decision to pursue an intensive research/forensic push (large controlled campaign and deeper analysis) in a given year.
expanded research program in-depth forensic/provenance analysis additional subject recruitment
👥 Personnel 4 total
Role Count Notes
Surveillance Analyst / Part-time 1 [#11] Part-time analyst for audio/video review and compliance monitoring (costed as recurring wage component).
Test Proctor / Part-time 1 [#9] Part-time proctor for administering tests and recordkeeping (recurring labor cost included).
Administrative Staff 1 [#10, #18] Admin for recruitment/vetting, scheduling, and logs (recurring admin labor costs included).
Oversight / Compliance Officer (part-time) 1 [#25] Oversight/compliance role for IRB-like review and ethics monitoring (recurring/one-time oversight costs included).
📋 Confidence Notes
Estimates are based on detailed analyst notes with many explicit line items and ranges; some items use mid-range assumptions and staffing/labor allocations required aggregation, producing moderate uncertainty.
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