The city of Beckley, West Virginia, has solicited bids from interested construction firms for five projects it wishes to complete during this fiscal year. Six firms have submitted bids on the...

The city of Beckley, West Virginia, has solicited bids from interested construction firms for five projects it wishes to complete during this fiscal year. Six firms have submitted bids on the projects, as indicated in the table for problem 2. (An “X” means that the firm did not submit a bid for that project.)

 Since the projects will be ongoing simultaneously, no firm will be able to complete more than one project.

 a. How should the contracts be awarded?

 b. If the total amount budgeted this year for these capital projects is $ 2 million, can all the projects be funded? If not, list some options the city of Beckley may wish to consider.