U.S. GAO - Electronic Records Archive: NARA Needs to Strengthen Its
Capacity to Use Earned Value Techniques
Since 2001, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
has been working to develop an Electronic Records Archive (ERA) to
preserve and provide access to massive volumes and all types of
electronic records. However, in acquiring this system, NARA has
repeatedly revised the program schedule and increased the estimated
costs for completion from $317 million to $567 million. NARA is to
manage this acquisition using, among other things, earned value
management (EVM). EVM is a project management approach that, if
implemented appropriately, provides objective reports of project
status and unbiased estimates of anticipated costs at completion. GAO
was asked to (1) assess whether NARA is adequately using EVM
techniques to manage the acquisition and (2) evaluate the earned value
data to determine ERA's cost and schedule performance. To do so, GAO
compared agency and contractor documentation with best practices,
evaluated earned value data to determine performance trends, and
interviewed cognizant officials.

NARA has, to varying degrees, established selected best practices
needed to manage the ERA acquisition through EVM, but weaknesses exist
in most areas. For example, the scope of effort in ERA's work
breakdown structure is not adequately defined, thus impeding the
ability to measure progress made on contractor deliverables. These
weaknesses exist in part because NARA lacks a comprehensive EVM
policy, training, and specialized resources and also frequently
replans the program. As a result, NARA has not been positioned to
identify potential cost and schedule problems early and thus has not
been able to take timely actions to correct problems and avoid program
schedule delays and cost increases. ERA's earned value data trends do
not accurately portray program status due to the program's weaknesses
in implementing EVM; however, historical program trends indicate that
future cost overruns will likely be between $195 million and $433
million to fully develop ERA as planned and between $205 and $405
million at program end. In contrast, the contractor's estimated cost
overrun is $2.7 million. Without more useful earned value data, NARA
will remain unprepared to effectively oversee contractor performance
and make realistic projections of program costs. GAO recommends, among
other things, that NARA establish a comprehensive plan for all
remaining work; improve the accuracy of earned value performance
reports; and engage executive leadership in correcting negative
trends. NARA generally concurred with GAO's recommendations.


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Source: http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-86
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