On April 14 of last year Bill Murphy, purchasing manager for TransGas, was concerned about being able to find a supplier who could deliver 5.7 km of large-diameter non-"standard" gas transmission pipe for the Regina West Expansion project. The project was planned to start in June and be completed by September.

Bill heard about the project from Peter Leham, the construction project manager, last January while he was having lunch in the company cafeteria. He asked for specifications as he knew that mills' schedules for gas pipe production required a substantial lead time. Peter told him that Craig Wilson, the recently-hired design engineer, is working on it. Both design and construction departments were under the management control of the VP of Operations.

Bill called Wilson who said that he will probably need 24-inch diameter, 3/4 inch thick, 57 feet long pipe pieces, whereas in prior purchases TransGas had used 24-inch diameter, 3/8 inch thick "random double normal" (40 feet long plus and minus 5 feet)). When asked about the reason for thicker longer pipe pieces, Wilson said that thicker walls are safer and longer pieces save welding costs. He also said that he will need more time to finalize his decision.

Bill was concerned about the economic consequence and timing impact of the pipe purchase for this project. At lunchtime on April 14, he had not yet received the purchase requisition.

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