Reference no: EM132292323

Melissa Lange is the convention services director at her city’s civic (convention) center. The center has been contracted to host a large press conference to announce the intention of the Republican senator representing her state to run for re-election. Despite Ms. Lange’s best efforts, the senator’s office is very unhappy with the physical condition of the civic center. “This is awful,” says the senator’s chief of staff. “The carpet is worn and the interiors need painting. This isn’t how the center looked six years ago when we booked our re-election announcement speech. It’s too late to move the press conference now, but there is no way the senator is paying the contracted amount for this space. It’s just six years after we selected you, and now the conditions are terrible!” Despite the fact that the civic center is, indeed, six years older than it was at the time of the contract signing, it is not materially different, and Ms. Lange suspects that the complaint about the condition of the facilities is merely a ploy initiated by the senator’s chief of staff to receive a reduction on the senator’s conference services bill. Assume that you are Ms. Lange.

1. What would be your response to the senator’s aide?

2. Assume that you are responsible for drafting the contracts for all of the civic center’s space requests that are to take place five or more years in the future. What would you do to ensure that guests such as these were not, in the future, able to make the claim that the facilities they contracted for previously were not the same as those they actually received on the date of their meeting?