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SCP-5854 Unknown ~ medium confidence
SCP-5854
Expected annual
$1.8M
One-time setup
$4.5M
Annual recurring
$1.7M
Personnel
11
One-time setup and contingency reserves dominate costs (~$4.46M) driven by analytical instrumentation and a public-health contingency; recurring annual operations are ~ $1.73M/year driven by security, research salaries, testing and legal/PR retainers.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $4.5M
Contingency Reserve Public Health $2.0M
[#23] One-time contingency reserve for moderate-to-large recall/public-health response (epidemiology, mass autopsies, recall logistics).
Initial Research And Lab Setup $1.6M
[#10, #12] Capital purchase of in-house analytical instrumentation (GC-MS, LC-MS, NMR, ICP-MS, SEM/EDS) and initial small-scale animal/mechanism study setup and approvals.
Technical Contingency Reserve $300K
[#30] One-time reserve for unexpected containment engineering or specialty technical requirements.
Initial Investigation And Field Ops $200K
[#14] Initial investigative push for PoI "dado" (field ops, warrants, travel, covert procurement).
Equipment $135K
[#2, #4, #5, #6, #7] Climate/HVAC controller and sensors (#2); CCTV/access hardware (#4); initial stock of evidence containers (#5); dedicated transport vehicle purchase (#6); initial PPE/autopsy kit (#7).
Facilities $95K
[#1, #25] Secure evidence vault upgrade (reinforced locker, installation) and initial sample preservation locker setup; structural/installation work and monitoring integration.
Web Crawler Development $25K
[#15] One-time development cost for web crawlers and initial analytics tooling.
Background Checks Initial $20K
[#26] Initial background/security clearance processing for relevant staff (~30 staff).
Evidence Management Software $15K
[#17] Purchase/customization of chain-of-custody / case management software and secure backups (one-time purchase/customization).
Training Sop Development $15K
[#18] Development of handling SOPs, autopsy protocols and initial workshops.
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $1.7M/yr
Staff Wages $1.1M/yr
[#3, #11, #15] 24/7 Safe Wing security staffing including two guards + supervisor (~$250k/yr), dedicated research team salaries including PI, senior researchers, technicians and admin (~$750k/yr), and 0.5–1 FTE web analyst (~$60k/yr).
Research And Monitoring $270K/yr
[#9, #10, #12, #13, #28] Contract analytical testing campaigns (~$50k/yr, #9), annual calibration/maintenance for in-house instruments (~$100k/yr, #10), follow-up animal/mechanism studies (~$50k/yr, #12), forensic trace/provenance analyses (~$30k/yr, #13), and modeling/epidemiological surveillance (~$40k/yr, #28).
Cover Story And Legal $150K/yr
[#21, #22, #29] Legal retainers and crisis counsel (#21), PR/crisis communications retainer (#22), and ongoing containment policy/legal research and ethics oversight (#29 partly).
Logistics And Transport $50K/yr
[#6, #14] Per-transport mission budget and routine retrievals (hazmat-capable courier missions and vehicle operating costs).
Autopsy And Forensic Pathology $50K/yr
[#8] Per-case autopsy, advanced toxicology, histology, radiology and related forensic pathology costs (assumed baseline case volume).
Supplies And Consumables $25K/yr
[#5, #7, #16] Ongoing evidence containment consumables and per-sample packaging (#5), PPE replenishment and consumables (#7), and small per-purchase costs not covered elsewhere (#16 buybacks contribute to separate buyback_program).
Ethics Oversight $25K/yr
[#29] External counsel, ethics board costs and oversight for human/animal studies and containment policy research.
Crisis Exercises $20K/yr
[#24] Annual tabletop exercises and cross-agency coordination drills.
Facilities Maintenance $16K/yr
[#2, #3, #4, #17, #25] HVAC/controller electricity & small maintenance (~#2), security/CCTV equipment maintenance (~#3,#4), hosting/backup/maintenance for evidence management system (~#17), and ongoing sample storage monitoring (~#25).
Buyback Program $15K/yr
[#16, #5] Controlled purchases/buybacks to obtain specimens from online sellers and associated per-sample packaging (#16,#5).
Medical Surveillance $10K/yr
[#20] Employee medical surveillance program (pre/post exposure checks and periodic bloodwork) for handling staff.
Web Crawler Operations $8K/yr
[#15] Servers, crawling costs, and minor tooling/cloud expenses for ongoing marketplace monitoring.
Psych Services $8K/yr
[#27] Psychological services retainer and critical-incident counseling for staff.
Waste Disposal $5K/yr
[#19] Routine biosafety waste disposal and decontamination contractor fees.
Annual Training $5K/yr
[#18] Annual training refreshers and SOP refreshes.
Sample Storage $5K/yr
[#25] Ongoing long-term preservation (cold/vacuum storage) per-locker monitoring and energy costs.
Background Check Renewals $3K/yr
[#26] Periodic reinvestigations and renewals for cleared staff.
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $1.7M/yr
83.0% probability / year
Normal year with ongoing monitoring, security, research, and routine acquisitions without major incidents.
routine discoveries no public exposures steady online listings
🚨 Minor Incident $2.0M/yr
15.0% probability / year +$300K vs baseline
Cluster of cases or targeted public exposure requiring increased autopsies, contract testing, expanded investigations and PR/legal response.
localized sales spike multiple fatalities in short period
🚨 Major Outbreak $4.7M/yr
2.0% probability / year +$3.0M vs baseline
Widespread commercial availability or mass-distribution leading to a recall, large-scale public-health response, mass autopsies and heavy legal/PR costs.
widespread commercial distribution media exposure / leak
👥 Personnel 11 total
Role Count Notes
Security Officer / MTF Agent 2 [#3] Two guards (active coverage) as part of the 24/7 Safe Anomaly Wing staffing.
Security Supervisor 1 [#3] Shift supervisor/lead to maintain two-person rule and backups.
PI / Research Scientist (lead) 1 [#11] Principal investigator overseeing mechanism research and coordination.
Research Scientist (senior) 2 [#11] Senior researchers for chemical/toxicology research and method development.
Laboratory Technician 3 [#11] Technicians for sample prep, assays, evidence handling and instrument operation.
Administrative Staff 1 [#11] Admin support for case management, logistics and procurement.
Web Analyst / Monitoring FTE 1 [#15] 0.5–1 FTE analyst for web crawler review and marketplace monitoring (counted as 1 FTE for staffing).
📋 Confidence Notes
Notes provide detailed line items for most cost drivers (security, instrumentation, testing), but uncertainty remains about case frequency, scale of potential public exposure, and future technical containment requirements, so confidence is medium.
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