hardMultiple Choice
PK0-005 Practice Question: The project manager for a large infrastructure…
You are the project manager for a large infrastructure project that involves upgrading the network switches across five regional offices. The project has a budget of $500,000 and a deadline of six months. During the third month, you receive a report that the vendor has encountered a manufacturing defect in the switches, causing a two-month delay. Additionally, the cost to replace the defective switches will be $100,000 over budget. The project sponsor is concerned about the impact on the business and wants to know the best way to move forward. There is a possibility that the vendor can expedite shipping for an additional $50,000, but it will only save one month. Alternatively, you can switch to a different vendor, but that would require renegotiating contracts and retesting, adding three months to the schedule. Another option is to descope one of the regional offices to reduce costs and time. However, that office is critical for an upcoming product launch. What is the BEST course of action for the project manager?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers choose a single 'solution' (like expedited shipping or switching vendors) without recognizing that the project manager's role is to facilitate decision-making by presenting trade-offs, not to unilaterally decide on a course of action that may conflict with sponsor priorities or exceed authority.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Perform a trade-off analysis and present options to the project sponsor for a decision.
The project manager should perform a trade-off analysis and present options to the sponsor because no single option clearly meets all constraints (budget, schedule, quality, and business criticality) without further evaluation. A trade-off analysis quantifies the impact of each alternative on scope, cost, time, and risk, enabling an informed decision aligned with organizational priorities. This aligns with the PMBOK process of performing integrated change control and ensures the sponsor understands the implications before committing resources.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Switch to a different vendor to ensure quality and avoid further defects.
Why it's wrong here
Switching vendors adds three months for renegotiation and retesting, extending the delay beyond the current two months and worsening the schedule breach. Vendor substitution is correct when the incumbent cannot deliver at all; here the vendor can still supply switches, just late.
- ✗
Descope the critical regional office to meet the original budget and schedule.
Why it's wrong here
Descoping the critical office removes functionality the upcoming product launch depends on, converting a schedule and cost problem into a business-impacting scope failure. Descoping suits non-critical deliverables where the sponsor accepts reduced scope; here the office is explicitly critical, so the option contradicts the stated constraint.
- ✗
Accept the vendor's expedited shipping option and use contingency reserves to cover the additional cost.
Why it's wrong here
Expedited shipping costs $50,000 yet recovers only one of the two lost months, leaving the deadline still breached while consuming contingency reserves. Using reserves for expediting is correct when it fully restores the schedule baseline; here it only partially mitigates the delay.
- ✓
Perform a trade-off analysis and present options to the project sponsor for a decision.
Why this is correct
A trade-off analysis quantifies the schedule, cost and scope impacts of expediting, switching vendors or descoping, letting the sponsor weigh them against the product launch constraint. Because the defect breaches both the $500,000 budget and six-month deadline, the sponsor owns that business decision; the project manager supplies the comparative data rather than choosing unilaterally.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 954 original PK0-005 practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PK0-005 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the PK0-005 exam.