USING EXTERNAL PRICE INDEXES$$PROBLEM $1$ In June $2012,$ a buyer entered into a three$-$year agreement with a supplier that provides plastic water pipe. Among other things, this agreement features fixed pricing over the life of the agreement. It is now March $2015,$ and the agreement with this supplier is up for review and possibly renewal. While the supplier$$s over$-$all performance has been excellent, the supplier has already indicated it intends to seek a $3\%$ price increase to cover what it calls escalating costs. The time has come to start thinking about renewing this contract. Please answer the following questions using the data in Table $10\mathrm{.}1.$