The project is moving along with the normal set-backs?nothing major, though, until today. In your regular status meeting with one of your project vendors, the account manager, George, closed your door and told you that you have a problem. One of his developers, Patrick, was approached by one of your team leads and asked to do something that goes against his ethics, and may possibly be illegal. Patrick was given a strong message that if he continues to run over budget on his hours, Lectocomp will not do any further work with his company. On the other hand, if he is able to finish the work within his given budgets, things will be fine. Patrick feels that he was being asked by the team leader to "eat" some of his hours and not bill all of them. Because the contract is a time-and-materials fee structure with a clearly understood/agreed-upon cost range, George feels that your team lead is trying to violate the contract.

Please post your response on how you will respond to George, Patrick, and your team lead. Be sure to explain what actions you will take to remedy the situation and describe what risks may result from those actions. Focus on the budget and vendor risks you identified and determine what you have learned that will prevent this from occurring again in the future. Be sure to support your decisions.