Smith explored a joint venture with SensorCo and SoftDev as an option.

Each partner would invest $$15$ million initially for a cooperative research program. Annual operating expenses were estimated at $$2$ million plus $$150,000$ for coordination, $$50,000$ for communications, and $$200,000$ for shared personnel. Smith projected $$10$ million annual benefits for AutoInnovate. However, this project will require a lot of effort in coordination and communication with parteners. In addition, there might be an issue when SoftDev as a startup company could not continue in the project.

Evaluate the cost$-$effectiveness of the acquisition, considering upfront investment, ongoing costs, TCO and the projected return on investment $($ROI$)$ over a $5-$year horizon and discount rate $5\%$