diff --git a/app/models/bundle_context.rb b/app/models/bundle_context.rb
index 647ba625..d7015fff 100644
--- a/app/models/bundle_context.rb
+++ b/app/models/bundle_context.rb
@@ -7,6 +7,11 @@ class BundleContext < ApplicationRecord
   validates :staging_style_symlink, inclusion: { in: [ true, false ] }
   validates :content_metadata_creation, presence: true, null: false
 
+  validate :verify_bundle_directory
+  validate :verify_content_metadata_creation
+
+  after_initialize :normalize_bundle_dir
+
   enum content_structure: {
     "simple_image_structure" => 0,
     "simple_book_structure" => 1,
@@ -21,4 +26,82 @@ class BundleContext < ApplicationRecord
     "smpl_style" => 2
   }
 
+  def staging_dir
+    '/dor/assembly'
+  end
+
+  def normalize_bundle_dir
+    self[:bundle_dir].chomp("/") if bundle_dir
+  end
+
+  def progress_log_file
+    Tempfile.new.path(id) #FIXME: (#78)
+  end
+
+  def content_exclusion #FIXME: Delete everywhere in code (#227)
+    nil
+  end
+
+  def file_attr
+    nil # FIXME can get rid of this (#228)
+  end
+
+  def validate_files?
+    false #FIXME delete everwhere in code (#230)
+  end
+
+  def content_tag_override? #TODO: find where this is used as a conditional and delete code that won't be executed (#231)
+    true
+  end
+
+  def smpl_manifest
+    'smpl_manifest.csv'
+  end
+
+  def manifest
+    'manifest.csv'
+  end
+
+  def path_in_bundle(rel_path)
+    File.join(bundle_dir, rel_path)
+  end
+
+  # TODO: BundleContext is not really a logical home for this util method
+  # load CSV allowing UTF-8 to pass through, deleting blank columns
+  # @param [String] filename
+  # @return [Array<ActiveSupport::HashWithIndifferentAccess>]
+  # @raise if file missing/unreadable
+  def self.import_csv(filename)
+    raise BundleUsageError, "CSV filename required" unless filename.present?
+    raise BundleUsageError, "Required file not found: #{filename}." unless File.readable?(filename)
+    file_contents = IO.read(filename).encode("utf-8", replace: nil)
+    csv = CSV.parse(file_contents, :headers => true)
+    csv.map { |row| row.to_hash.with_indifferent_access }
+  end
+
+  # On first call, loads the manifest data, caches results
+  # @return [Array<ActiveSupport::HashWithIndifferentAccess>]
+  def manifest_rows
+    @manifest_rows ||= self.class.import_csv(path_in_bundle(manifest))
+  end
+
+  def manifest_cols
+    {
+      label: 'label',
+      source_id: 'sourceid',
+      object_container: 'object', #object referring to filename or foldername
+      druid: 'druid'
+    }
+  end
+
+  private
+
+  def verify_bundle_directory
+    return if errors.key?(:bundle_dir)
+    errors.add(:bundle_dir, "Bundle directory: #{bundle_dir} not found.") unless File.directory?(bundle_dir)    
+  end
+
+  def verify_content_metadata_creation
+    errors.add(:content_metadata_creation, "The SMPL manifest #{smpl_manifest} was not found in #{bundle_dir}.") if smpl_style? && !File.exist?(File.join(bundle_dir, smpl_manifest)) 
+  end
 end
diff --git a/config/projects/TEMPLATE.yaml b/config/projects/TEMPLATE.yaml
index 5fe598aa..88a4412a 100644
--- a/config/projects/TEMPLATE.yaml
+++ b/config/projects/TEMPLATE.yaml
@@ -93,7 +93,6 @@ stageable_discovery:
   #     00/
   #       1.tif
   #       2.tif
-  #     01/
   #       1.jp2
   #       2.jp2
   #
diff --git a/spec/models/bundle_context_spec.rb b/spec/models/bundle_context_spec.rb
index 89849212..f2a1bb9c 100644
--- a/spec/models/bundle_context_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/bundle_context_spec.rb
@@ -1,15 +1,18 @@
-require 'rails_helper'
-
 RSpec.describe BundleContext, type: :model do
-  context "validation" do
-    let(:user) { User.new(sunet_id: "Jdoe")}
-    subject(:bc) { BundleContext.new(project_name: "SmokeTest",
-                                     content_structure: 1,
-                                     bundle_dir: "spec/test_data/bundle_input_g",
-                                     staging_style_symlink: false,
-                                     content_metadata_creation: 1,
-                                     user: user) }
+  subject(:bc) do
+    BundleContext.new(
+      project_name: "SmokeTest",
+      content_structure: 1,
+      bundle_dir: "spec/test_data/bundle_input_g/",
+      staging_style_symlink: false,
+      content_metadata_creation: 1,
+      user: user
+    )
+  end
 
+  let(:user) { User.new(sunet_id: "Jdoe") }
+
+  context "validation" do
     it "is not valid unless it has all required attributes" do
       expect(BundleContext.new).not_to be_valid
       expect(bc).to be_valid
@@ -61,10 +64,106 @@
       end
     end
 
+    context "bundle_dir path does not exist" do
+      it "object does not pass validation" do
+        expect { bc.bundle_dir = 'does/not/exist' }.to change { bc.valid? }.to(false) 
+      end
+    end
+
     it { is_expected.to validate_presence_of(:project_name) }
     it { is_expected.to validate_presence_of(:content_structure) }
     it { is_expected.to validate_presence_of(:bundle_dir) }
     it { is_expected.to validate_presence_of(:content_metadata_creation) }
     it { is_expected.to belong_to(:user) }
   end
+
+  describe "#staging_dir" do
+    it 'is hardcoded to the correct path' do
+      expect(described_class.new.staging_dir).to eq '/dor/assembly'
+    end
+  end
+
+  describe "#normalize_bundle_dir" do
+    it "removes the trailing forward slash" do
+      expect(bc.normalize_bundle_dir).to eq "spec/test_data/bundle_input_g"
+    end
+  end
+
+  describe "#content_tag_override?" do
+    it "is set to true" do
+      expect(described_class.new.content_tag_override?).to be true
+    end
+  end
+
+  describe "#smpl_manifest" do
+    it "returns the file name" do
+      expect(described_class.new.smpl_manifest).to eq 'smpl_manifest.csv'
+    end
+  end
+
+  describe "#manifest" do
+    it "returns the file name" do
+      expect(described_class.new.manifest).to eq 'manifest.csv'
+    end
+  end
+
+  describe "#path_in_bundle" do
+    it "creates a relative path" do
+      expect(bc.path_in_bundle("manifest.csv")).to eq "spec/test_data/bundle_input_g/manifest.csv"
+    end
+  end
+
+  describe "#progress_log_file" do
+    skip("Need to figure out where to set this path via planning meeting 9/10/18")
+  end
+
+  describe '#import_csv' do
+    let(:manifest) do
+      described_class.import_csv("#{Rails.root}/spec/test_data/bundle_input_a/manifest.csv")
+    end
+
+    it "loads a CSV as a hash with indifferent access" do
+      expect(manifest).to be_an(Array)
+      expect(manifest.size).to eq(3)
+      headers = %w{format sourceid filename label year inst_notes prod_notes has_more_metadata description}
+      expect(manifest).to all(be_an(ActiveSupport::HashWithIndifferentAccess)) # accessible w/ string and symbols
+      expect(manifest).to all(include(*headers))
+      expect(manifest[0][:description]).to be_nil
+      expect(manifest[1][:description]).to eq('')
+      expect(manifest[2][:description]).to eq('yo, this is a description')
+    end
+  end
+
+  describe "manifest_rows" do
+    it "loads the manifest CSV" do
+      expect(described_class).to receive(:import_csv).with("spec/test_data/bundle_input_g/manifest.csv")
+      bc.manifest_rows
+    end
+
+    it "memoizes the manifest rows" do
+      expect(described_class).to receive(:import_csv).once.with("spec/test_data/bundle_input_g/manifest.csv").and_call_original
+      2.times { bc.manifest_rows }
+    end
+
+    it "expect the content of manifest rows" do
+      expect(bc.manifest_rows).to eq(
+        [
+          {"druid"=>"druid:jy812bp9403", "sourceid"=>"bar-1.0", "folder"=>"jy812bp9403", "label"=>"Label 1", "description"=>"This is a description for label 1"},
+          {"druid"=>"druid:tz250tk7584", "sourceid"=>"bar-2.1", "folder"=>"tz250tk7584", "label"=>"Label 2", "description"=>"This is a description for label 2"},
+          {"druid"=>"druid:gn330dv6119", "sourceid"=>"bar-3.1", "folder"=>"gn330dv6119", "label"=>"Label 3", "description"=>"This is a description for label 3"}
+        ]
+      )
+    end
+  end
+
+  describe "manifest_cols" do
+    it "sets the column names" do
+      expect(bc.manifest_cols).to eq(
+        label: 'label',
+        source_id: 'sourceid',
+        object_container: 'object', # object referring to filename or foldername
+        druid: 'druid'
+      )
+    end
+  end
 end