This solution, although technically attractive, was considered too costly. Work at RSAA started immediately after agreement in principle was reached on the NIFS fabrication contract. By August 2000, RSAA had appointed two extra workshop staff members on temporary contracts to cope with this workload. A third joined two months later. To supervise the workshop effort and make the required changes to the NIRI design, the contract of a mechanical engineer was extended.
Efforts are underway to recruit new mechanical engineers.
By the time purchasing was resumed in December, several quotations had expired and their renewal caused further delays. The following serve as examples. Some parts have been fabricated which do not seem to appear in any assembly drawings. Fabrication subcontractors have been sent NIRI drawings with modifications described separately because the NIRI drawings have been provided in PDF format, not suitable for modification. Such procedures are more prone to errors than usual.