12. How would you describe the expected Return on Investment (ROI) with an Alliance-based contractor. Is the ROI direct cost savings, or is it based on the expectation that outage schedules will be reduced, or unit availability increased?

Planning costs are more than offset from the cost and schedule savings of completing the work on time and within budget.  Poorly planned jobs rarely get all of the work completed within budget and schedule expectations.  There is however, a point of diminishing returns.  High risk, complex jobs require more planning effort.  It is wise to spend less time planning simple, repetitive tasks.  It is important to capture all of the work in the overall outage (budget, resource, schedule) plan.