How the PHP estimate adds up

The school system here is a model, not a real department. It has 1,000 schools and 500 field technicians. Each technician works about 1,300 hours a year on site, so the program delivers 650,000 hours a year. About 40 senior technicians and service managers sit above them.

The working

• Field technicians: one visit per school, 1–3 hours each. 1,000–3,000 hours at $60–70/hr, so ~$60,000–$210,000.
• Escalation and co-ordination: ~40 people, 7–9 hours each. 280–360 hours at ~$130/hr, so ~$36,000–$47,000.
• Total: ~1,300–3,400 hours and ~$95,000–$255,000.

As a share of the program: 0.2–0.5% for one flaw. Twenty a year comes to 26,000–67,000 hours, or 4–10%.

What it leaves out

Central office staff, and any IT staff schools hire themselves. So the true figure is higher.