2013-EV08

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Understanding Requirements for Subcontract EV Flow Down and Management

Earned Value Management Track

EV-8_Paper_UnderstandingRequirementsForSubcontractEVFlowDown&Management_Infanti

Abstract:

Do you use Earned Value Management (EVM)? Do you have a government customer that is requiring you to use EVM and report the data monthly?

In either of these situations, if you have a subcontractor (SC), you need to know how they will report to you. You need to have a plan on how you will incorporate their data into your data for a complete program understanding. If your SC reports to you at cost level how do you add the fee to their report? How do you add your companies general and administrative (G&A) overhead to their costs?   Do you share your Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) with them or just the key milestones?

As the subcontract manager/CAM, you are expected to understand the “what and why” of every aspect of the subcontracted work, so that you can forecast the impact on the program. This means that the subcontract plans must become part of your CAP (Control Account Plan). Their status and forecasts are your status and forecasts. It also means that if the EVM data is wrong, it is your fault, since you are managing the work.

This means you need to have provided the subcontractor with cost and schedule targets and the reporting requirements that will keep you informed as to status of that work. It also means you need to understand each block on the CPR/IPMR. If the subcontractor fails to provide you with the information you need, or the information is inaccurate, you need to understand the options; such as rejecting the SC CPR/IPMR, asking for it to be resubmitted or writing an overview for the Program CPR/IPMR that explains why you do not agree with the Subcontractor CPR/IPMR or even issuing a SC CAR (corrective action request).

This paper will present flow charts and lists of items that define what to do or look for during the pre-award, award and execution phases of the subcontract.

Author:

Mark Infanti
SM&A
Mark’s experience with Earned Value Management began in 1975 in the aerospace industry. Mark has presented hundreds of training classes to both the public and private sectors and wrote a book on EVM that was used to train a project management software company team in the 1980’s.

Over the past 30 years, he has been in the project management field as a project analyst, EVM consultant, technical sales support for EVM products, implementation consultant, project controls manager at a major EPC company and marketing manager for EVM tools. In these positions he has made presentations at conferences, presented EVM and scheduling training around the world, and supported professional organizations such as PMI, NDIA, & AACE.

He is a charter member of the Performance Management Association which merged with PMI in 1999 and what is now known as CPM. Mark holds a BA degree in Business Management from the University of Texas at El Paso.