Executing and Closing of Projects: Analysis of Flint Michigan Municipality Water Supply Project

This article analyzes the Flint Michigan Municipality Water Supply Project, which failed to provide clean tap water due to poor planning, lack of proper feasibility studies, and communication issues. The project team used control systems for cost, schedule, quality, and scope, but still encountered time and cost overruns due to delays in decision-making, lawsuits, and material acquisition. The project team is held responsible for the overruns due to their failure to plan appropriately and manage costs.

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EXECUTING AND CLOSING OF PROJECTS
Name of student
Name of instructor
Name of institution
Date

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An introduction to the project you have chosen
The project under study is the municipal water supply in the Flint Michigan Municipality.
The project was supposed to achieve the goal of providing clean tap water in the town as part
of the town restructuring plans. The Michigan water project could save the town a total of
five million dollars annually by shifting from the existing water suppliers. The project team
failed to carry out a proper analysis before commencing the activities, which led to water
contamination. The water from Flinch River had lead deposits, which resulted in health issues
among the citizens using the water. Additionally, the water caused corrosion of water pipes
leading to complaints from the water users. The problem persisted for a long time causing the
persons to start buying water from other states and supermarkets. The project caused harm
and losses to the individuals in Michigan meaning that the objectives were not realised as
initially stated (Goatham, 2016).
The problems came up due to lack of proper quality planning by the implementation team. A
feasibility study was not properly done to identify whether the flinch river water was safe for
consumption. The assumption of the safety of the water resulted in lead consumption and
corrosion of pipes leading to losses from lawsuits and health expenses. Moreover, the project
lacked proper cost management since the municipal office allocated fewer funds, which made
it difficult to use experts in the feasibility studies. Experts could have assisted in identifying
the lead deposits in the river water and give a solution to the problem. The problems
continued for a long time, which led to the shelving of the project waiting for allocation of
more funds and experts. Therefore, the project ended up consuming more time and money
due to poor planning and mediocre feasibility studies (Goatham, 2016).
Major reasons for failure of the project
Poor communication of the problem facing the water project since the municipal office only
had information that the water had lead deposits while the water had a bad taste, smell and

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colour. The water was very unsafe for human consumption but the project management did
not realise the extent of the issue. The project only focussed on solving the lead deposit
problem leaving the problem of bad taste, colour and taste unattended. The county invested
billions in correcting the lead presence in the water, which left fewer funds to correct the
other problems (Greeson, 2014).
Furthermore, citizens’ complaints and lawsuit expenses also led to the failure of the project.
Blood tests on the water users showed led presence in the blood, which is a serious health
hazard. The municipal incurred huge health expenses in the treatment of lead problems and
high health insurance fees. Therefore, the project could not continue as intended because of
the health problem posed to the water users. Additionally, the health expenses caused
consumption of more money than planned by the budget controller (Boyer, 2018).
Further expenses came in the form of lawsuits by the water users whose property such as
pipes were damaged by corrosion. The citizens sought legal solutions to make the municipal
government pay for the damaged pipes and pay health insurance. The court ruled in favour of
the citizens, which led to huge payouts to the citizens and replacement of the damaged pipes.
The payments resulted in the project costing higher than expected (Bridges, 2014).
Poor feasibility studies also caused failure of the project. Proper feasibility studies could have
assisted in identifying the lead deposits and seeking a solution to the problem. However, due
to poor tests, the project continued without considering the health effects to the citizens. The
project failed since the consumers could not tolerate drinking water that caused health
problems and the possibility of cancer. Additionally, the team did not realise the bad taste and
smell of the water, which the citizens could not stand. Therefore, the failure to perform
appropriate feasibility tests on the project resulted in the project not meeting the objectives
(Chalmers Brother, 2015).

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Poor quality also contributed to the failure of the project since the project did not give clean
and safe water. The resulting water supply was unsafe to the people because of the presence
of lead deposits, bad taste and smell. Therefore, the project did not serve the purpose intended
since the result was illnesses and water expenses on the people buying water from
supermarkets and other suppliers (Fred R. David, 2016).
An explanation of the used control systems for cost, schedule, quality and cost
The project applied various control systems to achieve quality, maintain scope, time and
budgeted cost. The project team employed the control systems for all activities to ensure
achievement of the objectives and aligning to the deliverables. The team ensured that each
deliverable had a leader who ensured that the activities did not undermine the set objectives
in terms of scope, quality, cost and schedule. The leaders performed continuous audits and
gave corrections in case of factors that could compromise the project outcome (Giovani J.C,
2010).
The project team used schedule controls to check that the activities started and finished at the
right time as intended. The schedule controls also combined with the Gantt chart, which
showed when each activity should begin, and end. Moreover, the Gantt chart also showed the
succession of the activities to avoid confusion during the execution and what events should
take place in preparation for activities. The schedule control helps in the allocation of
employees in the various activities with accuracy on the number of employees to perform
which tasks. Additionally, the project schedule also assists in identifying the days that each
action will consume until full completion to avoid rushing a process or allocating too much
time on a short event (Gregory G Dess, 2015).
The cost control also assisted in preventing the project from consuming more funds than
allocated. The cost control tools included the budget, which stated the monetary allocation for
all the activities. The funds accounted for material costs, salaries for the employees and

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money for miscellaneous activities. The budget controller was strict on the maintenance of
costs within the set amounts since added expenses could result in the halting of the project
waiting for the municipal to allocate more funds, which could take at least a year. The budget
control system was effective in maintaining the costs within limits and ensuring that all the
expenses were paid in time avoiding the penalties of late payment (Grunig, 2013).
The project log framework assisted in maintaining the scope of the project by giving the
activities, outcome and goals of each stage. Additionally, the project framework has columns,
which identify how the project team will verify the achievement of objectives and the actions
to take if actions failed to meet aims. The project team leader appointed by the municipal
council and given the responsibility of ensuring success on the project achieving the scope
managed the log frame. The log frame was the point of reference before starting and finishing
activities to ensure adherence to the set goals (Hartney, 2016).
The quality if the project was managed through a quality committee appointed by the mayor
to ensure the project does not fall short of expectations. The quality committee reported on
the progress of the project to the mayor and the municipal board of governors. The quality
committee had the duty of auditing the project to ensure fulfilment of the set objectives. The
committee ensured that the project used the right quality and amount of material to ensure
success. Additionally, the quality team ensured that the project allocated the right experts for
each task to avoid failure and have the right solutions to problems incurred (James Michael
Stewart, 2015).
An analysis for the reasons that explain the cost and/or time overruns encountered during the
project
The water project team did not succeed in completing the activities within the set time and
cost. The project team required extra time and money to accomplish the activities. One of the
reasons for the project requiring more time is poor planning by the project team, which led to

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the poor execution of the project. The project manager did not ensure that the project is
correctly planned in terms of when activities will begin and end. Therefore, the employees
took much time when undertaking activities and delayed before starting tasks. The delay
when shifting from one activity to the next resulted in more time spent on the project than
initially planned. The time wasted resulted in cost penalties such as increases in the prices of
materials caused by inflation. The project suffered the problem of paying more for materials
and salaries (Kettner, 2013).
Additionally, lack of a proper feasibility test resulted in surprise events and hitches occurring
in the course of project execution. The project experienced unplanned requirements such as
the need to treat the water to eliminate the lead deposits, which was not planned for in the
initial plan. The elimination of lead resulted in new activities, which requires time and money
that the project team had not allocated. The lead elimination required the involvement of
water engineers who charged expensively for the services. Therefore, the project team
required to apply for more funds from the mayor’s office, which resulted in further delays
(Maloney, 2015).
Delays in the decision making at the project head office also resulted in time overruns since
the board had to meet before passing decisions on the project. Therefore, any changes on the
project took long before implementation since the municipal committee had to meet and
decide whether to accept the change. Sometimes the board disagreed on the change, which
led to further delays on the project. The delays affected the project by increasing the period of
completion and the cost of tasks (Mandviwalla, 2015).
Furthermore, the project was not fully accepted by the stakeholders, which led to lawsuits
seeking injunctions to stop the project. The project could pause waiting for court decisions on
whether to proceed or terminate. The court took time before making decisions on the project
means that the project stayed unattended for long periods. Additionally, the court could

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demand the redoing of completed activities to suit the stakeholders. The redoing and waiting
for court decisions increased the cost and time required to do the project. Therefore, the
project team faced a difficulty in controlling time and money involved due to the intervention
of powers beyond control. Failure to follow the court orders could lead to jail time or hefty
fines in individuals, which makes it important to follow court rulings. However, the problem
came up due to poor planning and communication on the part of the project team
(Monanghan, 2011).
Additionally, the acquisition of materials from distant sellers increased the cost of the project
since the team incurred transportation costs. The suppliers did not give transport discounts,
which increased the cost of the project since the team had to hire trucks to carry materials.
The trucks charged high for transportation since the project was government related which
caused an inflation of the final cost. Moreover, the distance travelled in getting materials
caused delays in bringing necessities to the site resulting in more time for the project since
the team had to wait for long. For example, some of the pipes came from China, which took
long to transport by sea. Moreover, more time was spent in clearing the materials at the port
(Mordecai Lee, 2012).
Furthermore, the project had the challenge of acquiring experts to work on the project due to
emerging events such as bad taste and water for the project. The various stages of the project
required experts to ensure quality and adherence to the objectives. The project required
experts to maintain the hygienic level needed for tap water to prevent water-borne diseases
such as cholera. The various experts included water engineers to give a good route for the
pipes, which prevents contamination (Nicolas Bacon, 2010). The various experts required
that the project aligns to personal diaries, which led to changes in the activity schedules thus
increasing the time for the project. Additionally, the experts charged varying rates, which

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changed in the course of the project implementation leading to different salaries than
expected (Nigel Slack, 2010).
Taxes charged on the project increased with time depending on laws passed by the revenue
authority. The taxes resulted in a rise in the money paid on the project to amounts that the
project team had not anticipated. The taxes were levied on materials and salaries paid to the
employees, which increased the financial expenses of the project. Additionally, the project
team also demanded higher salaries than discussed on the beginning contract. The salaries
raised the expenses of the project to amounts not accounted for initially (Noe, 2014).
An analysis of the extent to which the project execution team could be held responsible of the
incurred time/or cost overruns
The project team played a huge role in the increase in cost and time spent due to the various
actions of the members. The execution team played a role in increasing the money for the
project through demanding for higher salaries than what was planned initially. The demand
for the higher salaries came up due to increase in inflation levels, which raised the cost of
living for the team members. Therefore, the employees had a hand in the increase in the
financial expenses of the project (Osgood, 2012).
Moreover, the execution team played a role in the failure to plan appropriately for the project.
The failure to plan resulted in surprise activities occurring at various stages of the project,
which led to unplanned expenses. Additionally, the emerging events increased time spent on
the project since the events demanded time for proper accomplishment (Rajesh K. Singh,
2010).
The execution team caused the overruns by failing to avail the materials early before the
project started. Therefore, the team had to procure materials before the beginning of each
stage, which caused delays in starting activities. The procurement of materials followed long

EXECUTING AND CLOSING OF PROJECTS 9
procedures such as ordering and inspection at the point of delivery. Therefore, the project
experienced delays in getting the materials to begin the activities (Ramsey, 2013).
An analysis of the relationship between problems you identify in (3)and the stakeholder’s
needs and influence
The various problems causing overruns related to the needs of the stakeholders who were
concerned about the success of the project. The poor planning related to the stakeholder
needs of wanting the project to achieve the set objectives. The stakeholders wanted a good
plan for the project to ensure supply of clean, cheap and hygienic water since the previous
system was expensive compared to the new project. Therefore, the stakeholders were eager to
shift to the new project and therefore influenced the planning stage by giving ideas on the
project’s execution (Rhodes, 2017).
The problem posed by the acquisition of experts also related to the stakeholder influence in
demanding the correction of the water. The stakeholders complained that the water was dirty
and had a bad smell and taste. Therefore, the stakeholders demanded that the municipal hire
experts to rectify the issues before causing further health problems. The stakeholders played a
huge role in choosing the specific water engineers to participate in the correction activity
(S.K Breja, 2011).
The delays in decision-making were influenced by the stakeholders due to having a hand in
the decisions supported by the municipal board members. The municipal board members
represent the views of the community who are the stakeholders, which means that each
member had a different contribution to the project. The difference in ideas caused
disagreements during meetings, which resulted in the postponement of decision making thus
delaying the project. The project could have completed faster if the stakeholders did not push
so hard for the project to align with the exact requirements (Shafer, 2013).

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The stakeholders directly caused the problem of acceptance since the rejection rendered the
project useless. The stakeholders wanted the project to deliver water that was free from
contamination, which the project failed. Therefore, the stakeholders could not accept a
project that caused lead-based infections such as cancer. Additionally, the water was dirty
and did not have a good taste, which led to complaints in Michigan. The project team was
supposed to consider all the stakeholder requirements and tailor the project to satisfy the
needs (Sprinthall, 2011).
An analysis of project management actions that could have been taken to better control the
project and stakeholders in order to increase the chance for successful delivery
The project management could have carried out better communication about the project. The
communication involves talking to the stakeholders about the progress of the project and any
changes required on the implementation. Communication enables to bring the various project
parties together to ensure success. Additionally, the teams have an opportunity to share ideas
on the implementation of the project. Therefore, the Michigan water project management
could have sent constant progress reports to the stakeholders to ensure that each person
understands why certain activities take place. Moreover, the team could have organised
meetings with the stakeholders to allow sharing of ideas to drive the success of the project
(Steckerl, 2013).
Furthermore, quality management could have assisted in ensuring the success of the project
by ensuring that each activity follows the set objectives. The team could have used a quality
statement to counter check whether each activity has the required outcome. The quality
statement indicates the right experts, materials and time for doing activities in a project. For
example, the water project team could have developed quality standards that define which

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experts to involve in every stage. Additionally, the document could indicate what quality of
materials to purchase to ensure success. The project could have used the document to
effectively run the activities and ensure successful execution, which maintains very high
quality (Tarry, 2016).
Additionally, feasibility studies could have assisted the project to succeed in fulfilling the set
objectives. Feasibility allows the team to identify the ability of a project to meet stakeholder
requirements. For example, if the project team had carried out proper feasibility studies, then
the lead in the river water could be identified. Therefore, identification of lead in water could
have allowed the members to look for alternative water sources or find a method of treating
the water. However, the project team ignored the feasibility studies, which led to the
discovery of lead when after completion of the project (Terje Slatten, 2009).
Cost management could also have assisted the completion of the task successfully without
exceeding the allocated funds. The cost management could have assisted in ensuring that the
activities align with the allocated funds to avoid excess costs. Additionally, the cost
management plan identifies the right places to source materials without increasing the cost of
the project. For example, the water project could have used a cost management plan to plan
for unexpected changes in the prices of materials caused by inflation and taxes. The team
could have set prices with upper and lower limits, which accommodates the additional prices
of material and increased salaries. The project could also put aside miscellaneous funds to
cater for unexpected events requiring money (William Stallings, 2012).
A scope management tool could help in ensuring that the project sticks to the objectives. The
scope document helps to ensure that the project does not include unnecessary activities,
which result in failure of a project. The team could prepare a scope management document
and appoint a team member to check that the project execution is as intended. The scope
manager could report to the team manager and make corrections on the mistakes, which

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threaten the project scope. The failure to have a proper scope management resulted in the
water having various changes which caused failure. Therefore, scope management is very
important in achieving the success of a project (William Stallings, 2012).
Furthermore, time management is necessary for the success of a project. Time management
ensures that a project is completed within the allocated period to avoid delay penalties. Time
penalties include increased prices due to inflation and the time value of money. Inflation
causes an increase in the price of items and demand for more salaries by the employees.
Therefore, the project should take place within the set time to avoid economic events that
increase the price of materials leading to high prices. For example, the Michigan water
project could have developed a cost management plan to avoid incurring high costs caused by
inflation and high taxes. Additionally, the cost plan could have identified the right sources of
materials, which does not increase the final project price (Williamson, 2013).
Furthermore, the management of human resources could have aided in the success of the
project. The human resource management assists in getting the right project team to
accomplish the tasks. The ability to manage human capital comes in handy when training,
selecting and hiring employees for the various tasks in the project. Therefore, the project
manager could have utilised human resource knowledge in finding the right feasibility
personnel who could have discovered the shortcomings of the project such as lead in water.
Moreover, the human resource could have assisted in employing the right personnel for the
project activities who will ensure that each activity happens as required (Zinn, 2012).
Procurement management also assists in the success of a project since the team is able to
identify sources of materials and negotiate proper prices. Therefore, the problem of increases
in the cost of materials in the future does not happen since the team negotiates a fixed price
that does not increase throughout the project execution (Fred R. David, 2016).

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A conclusion, which identifies the key lessons that project management, can learn from the
experience of the project
The project manager can use the project failure as a lesson in the execution of future
activities. The water project emphasised the importance of feasibility studies before
commencing activities. The studies help in identifying whether it is necessary to continue
with the project by identifying the success and failure chances. In the case where the chances
of failure exceed the chances of success, the project is abandoned. However, when success
supersedes failure, then the project is carried out.
Additionally, the project emphasises the importance of stakeholders to a project. The
stakeholders determine the outcome of a project through giving ideas to the project team. The
stakeholders could influence the abandonment of a project in the case the activities do not
match objectives. The stakeholders should receive constant communications about the
progress and changes on the project.
Moreover, the failure of the project emphasises the need for control systems to ensure
achievement of the deliverables, which include time, cost and quality of a project. The
control systems ensure that the project is controlled and run in a way that prevents failure.
The project adheres to set standards, which results in meeting the expected quality,
completion in time and within the budgeted cost

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