Since the hospital's project budgeting approach is under the microscope due to several large, public budget overruns, Walter is asking you for very concrete three-point/range estimates and budget numbers. You are able to get good "most-likely" estimates from your team for the work they are doing, but the largest numbers (and most unknown right now) are the vendor estimates. You could develop some estimates based on your vendor experiences from the private hospital, but you know those numbers are on the high end of the cost range. You and Walter discussed this during your last face-to-face status meeting. He was not comfortable using just those numbers (although that would make the project appear to come in under budget) and wanted to have numbers that are more likely. He asked you to follow up with him via e-mail detailing the approach you will take. You suspect that he will enhance the e-mail and send it to the CFO in response to the CFO's concerns.

Using your knowledge of the case study, prepare the e-mail you will send Walter that describes your approach to defining the project budget. Be sure to clearly define your approach for obtaining estimates for the 10 vendors that may be used on the project. Remember that you have not selected the vendors yet, but you do have a list of 50 possibilities.