While the FAA uses earned value management techniques to manage IT acquisitions, it needs to clarify policy and strengthen oversight, GAO has said.
EVM is designed to provide objective reports of project status, produce early warning signs of impending schedule delays and cost overruns, and provide unbiased estimates of a program’s total costs.
The FAA, which plans to spend $2 billion on IT this year, has established a policy requiring the use of EVM on its major IT acquisition programs, but key components of this policy are not fully consistent with best practices of leading organizations, according to GAO-08-756.
It said the FAA has fully met four and partially met three components of an effective EVM policy.
It requires program managers to obtain EVM training, but the report said the agency does not enforce completion of this training or require other relevant personnel to obtain this training.
Further, not all programs are ensuring that their earned value data are reliable, GAO said.
The Department of Transportation’s director of audit relations said the department generally agreed with GAO’s findings and recommendations, such as requiring the use of a product-oriented standard work breakdown structure, and enforcing existing EVM training requirements and expanding them to include senior executives responsible for investment oversight and program staff responsible for program oversight.
