PMP · Question #813
While working on a proposal for a national-level solution, a new project manager finds that the proposal is asking for compliance from various organizations and policies. The project manager understan
The correct answer is A. Verify the regulatory requirements and establish a strategy for compliance.. When faced with a proposal having incomplete regulatory compliance, the project manager's first action should be to verify requirements and devise a compliance strategy, despite senior management's advice to overlook issues.
Question
While working on a proposal for a national-level solution, a new project manager finds that the proposal is asking for compliance from various organizations and policies. The project manager understands that while several compliances are in place, some of the specific regulatory needs for this project are not in place. Senior management advised the project manager to overlook these compliance problems, because they will be ready when that stage of the project is reached, and to continue building the proposal. What should the project manager do first?
Options
- AVerify the regulatory requirements and establish a strategy for compliance.
- BDocument the interactions with senior management in the risk register.
- CAdvise senior management that itis ethically unprofessional to continue.
- DBuild the proposal with an alternative set of regulatory requirements.
How the community answered
(38 responses)- A74% (28)
- B3% (1)
- C8% (3)
- D16% (6)
Why each option
When faced with a proposal having incomplete regulatory compliance, the project manager's first action should be to verify requirements and devise a compliance strategy, despite senior management's advice to overlook issues.
Regulatory compliance is a critical constraint for national-level solutions; overlooking unfulfilled requirements, as advised by senior management, poses significant risks, including legal, financial, and reputational. The project manager's fiduciary and ethical duty is to proactively understand and address all compliance needs to ensure the project's viability and success.
While documenting is good practice, it's not the first action; the primary concern is the unaddressed compliance, which needs immediate verification and strategy development.
Directly advising senior management of unprofessionalism might be premature and confrontational without first doing due diligence to fully understand and strategize on the compliance issues.
Building a proposal with alternative regulatory requirements without verification or stakeholder agreement is inappropriate and could exacerbate the compliance problem.
Concept tested: Regulatory compliance management and ethics
Source: https://www.pmi.org/pmbok-guide-standards/foundational/pmbok
Topics
Community Discussion
4
Lena V.May 22, 2026A is correct. The exam always wants you to verify and understand the actual regulatory requirements before doing anything else, so you can build a real compliance strategy into the proposal. B is premature and C is too aggressive for a first step, but A gives you the facts you need to push back on senior management with specifics.
Ola B.May 23, 2026A is right but if you have a sandbox tenant handy, pull the actual compliance requirements into a quick lab doc and see how the controls map, it makes the pushback to management a lot more concrete than just citing the regulation.
Ola B.May 29, 2026I first leaned toward C since ignoring compliance sounded like an ethics red flag, but the question is asking what to do first, not what to argue about. A is the right call because you need to verify the actual regulatory requirements and build a compliance strategy before you can have an informed conversation with senior management about anything.
Prof. SaraJun 8, 2026I leaned toward B, but the stem says verify the requirements first - that is A.