SCP-5714 — SCP-5714 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-5714 Safe ~ medium confidence

SCP-5714

Expected annual

$10.3M

One-time setup

$303.2M

Annual recurring

$3.9M

Personnel

12.8

One-time capital is dominated by an optional dedicated satellite network (~$300M) while recurring annual costs are driven by outsourced telescope monitoring, scientific staff wages, and readiness/response capabilities (~$3.88M/yr baseline). Incident-driven costs (amnestics, cleanup, media suppression) are modeled separately in scenarios.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $303.2M

Dedicated Satellite Network $300.0M

[#14] Capital project to design/build/launch a modest dedicated satellite/telescope network for continuous coverage (option).

Initial Research And Lab Setup $1.0M

[#22] Initial long-tail research program / lab buildout and equipment for FTL/astral travel studies.

Ground Data Infrastructure $1.0M

[#15] Ground data ingestion, storage, processing pipeline build (scale depends on chosen monitoring approach).

Contingency Reserve $500K

[#20] One-time reserve / capital allocation for unexpected large-scale incidents or legal exposure.

Rapid Response Kit $300K

[#8] Mobile HazMat/forensics kit purchase and vehicle fit-out for rapid response.

Secure Comms Hardware $100K

[#17] Encrypted comms hardware, uplink/downlink systems for telemetry and remote control.

Amnestic Stockpile $75K

[#18] Initial purchase and secure storage infrastructure for Class-A amnestics and associated pharmaceuticals.

Legal And Lease Settlement $60K

[#6] One-time negotiation/settlement / formal agreements to operate on university property and cover establishment.

Equipment $58K

[#2, #4, #5] Dome locks/anti-entry retrofit, guard kit, and local surveillance/CCTV hardware installation.

Records Infrastructure $30K

[#24] Secure archival infrastructure and chain-of-custody systems.

Facilities $15K

[#1] Initial assessment/repairs to existing concrete wall, graffiti removal and occasional reinforcement.

Sop Development $15K

[#19] Initial SOP development for containment, witness handling, media, and response.

Personnel Onboarding $3K

[#3] Initial background checks and training for nightly guard.

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $3.9M/yr

Outsourced Monitoring $1.5M/yr

[#13] Recurring cost to lease observation time from commercial/university telescopes and survey feeds (low-cost option for continuous monitoring).

Staff Wages $1.1M/yr

[#3, #7, #16] Nightly guard (1.0 FTE equivalent), fractional site director, and scientific staff salaries (3–12 FTEs; modeled here as ~6 FTEs).

Ground Data Operations $500K/yr

[#15] Annual operations, cloud storage and analyst costs for ground data pipelines.

Long Tail Research $300K/yr

[#22] Ongoing research program costs (personnel, experiments, travel) after initial setup.

Rapid Response Readiness $100K/yr

[#8] Annual training, fuel, replenishment and readiness for mobile HazMat/forensics team.

Insurance Premiums $75K/yr

[#20] Annual insurance/legal reserve premiums or allocated capital cost smoothing.

Missing Persons Reserve $50K/yr

[#12] Annual reserve for occasional missing-person cover-up/legal/family management.

Secure Comms Fees $50K/yr

[#17] Bandwidth, uplink/downlink fees and secure comms services.

Training And Drills $50K/yr

[#19] Regular tabletop and field exercises for guards, RRT, media and legal teams.

Media Monitoring $40K/yr

[#11] Ongoing social monitoring and rapid-response digital content suppression retainer.

Cover Story And Legal $30K/yr

[#6] Annual legal retainer / lease/cover payments to maintain 'defunct' posture.

Interagency Coordination $25K/yr

[#21] Liaison and coordination costs with FAA, NOAA and local agencies.

Amnestic Replenishment $20K/yr

[#18] Annual replenishment, audits and expiry replacement for Class-A amnestics.

Public Outreach $10K/yr

[#23] Small ongoing PR to maintain cover narrative; occasional larger spends are incident-driven.

Records Maintenance $10K/yr

[#24] Archive maintenance and secure records handling.

Vehicle Operating Costs $9K/yr

[#4] Fuel, insurance, and maintenance for patrol/response vehicle if used.

Misc Operational Overhead $5K/yr

[#25] Utilities, site insurance, and petty cash for local expenditures.

Surveillance Monitoring $4K/yr

[#5] Cloud storage, monitoring and maintenance for CCTV and alarm systems.

Facilities Maintenance $3K/yr

[#1] Ongoing concrete wall/landscaping/repair and graffiti removal (annualized).

Supplies And Consumables $3K/yr

[#25] Gloves, evidence bags, small consumables and utilities for site equipment.

Dome Lock Maintenance $1K/yr

[#2] Annual maintenance & power for electrically controlled dome locks and tamper sensors.

Research And Monitoring $0/yr

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Logistics And Transport $0/yr

[]

Forensic Cleanup Per Incident $0/yr

[#9] Per-incident soil/air sampling and cleanup costs; baseline assumes none and this is modeled in incident scenarios.

Witness Management Per Incident $0/yr

[#10] Per-incident costs for witness detention, interviews, medical checks, and amnestic administration; accounted for in incident scenarios.

Media Takedown Per Incident $0/yr

[#11] Per-incident takedown costs for significant viral media; accounted for in incident scenarios.

Dedicated Sat Ops $0/yr

[#14] Annual ops and data processing for a dedicated satellite network; set to 0 in baseline (option modeled in scenarios).

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $3.9M/yr

92.0% probability / year

Uneventful year with no SCP-5714-A incidents; normal monitoring, staffing, and maintenance only.

no_incidents outsourced_monitoring_active routine_maintenance

🚨 Minor Incident $4.1M/yr

5.0% probability / year +$200K vs baseline

Small local SCP-5714-A event requiring rapid response, limited forensic cleanup, amnestic use on a handful of witnesses, and modest media takedown.

single_event few_witnesses localized_cleanup

🚨 Major Incident $5.1M/yr

1.0% probability / year +$1.2M vs baseline

Large public incident with many witnesses/missing-person cases, extensive cleanup, heavy legal/settlement costs and large-scale media suppression.

widespread_exposure multiple_witnesses legal_settlements

🚨 Full Dedicated Approach $323.9M/yr

2.0% probability / year +$320.0M vs baseline

Foundation elects to build and deploy a dedicated satellite/telescope network (capital project) and begins operations in the year.

capital_decision dedicated_satellite_deployment

👥 Personnel 12.8 total

Role	Count	Notes
Security Officer / MTF Agent	1.0	[#3, #4] Nightly guard coverage (1.0 FTE equivalent) including equipment.
Site Director / Administrative Staff	0.3	[#7] Fractional site manager for compliance, training and liaison duties.
Research Scientist	6	[#16] Astronomers/physicists/mission ops personnel (3–12 FTEs modeled as ~6 FTEs).
Rapid Response Specialist / HazMat Technician	2	[#8] Mobile HazMat/forensics responders for incident response.
IT / Data Engineer	2	[#15, #17] Ground data pipeline, analysts and comms operators for monitoring and processing.
Medical Officer	0.5	[#10, #18] Medical support for amnestic administration and post-procedure checks (fractional / on-call).
Administrative Staff	1.0	[#6, #23, #24] Records management, FOIA handling, and PR/cover-story coordination.

📋 Confidence Notes

Cost ranges and many per-incident expenses are well-documented in the analyst notes (medium confidence for categorical assignment and magnitude). Major uncertainties remain around incident frequency, the decision to build a dedicated satellite network, and scale of media/legal exposures which drive variability; these justify a 'medium' confidence rating.

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