This report focuses on a technique – earned value management (EVM) – for overseeing the cost, schedule, and performance of major capital investments during the investment process (e.g., information technology systems, structures, weapons systems). EVM provides metrics to help inform assessments of whether capital investments are “on track” from three perspectives: the investment’s planned cost, time schedule, and functionality. Variance from a project’s planned cost, schedule, and functionality might occur due to the inherent complexity and uncertainty of a project, poor planning or implementation, or, sometimes, simply bad luck. Although EVM attempts to address several significant monitoring and evaluation issues, other evaluation techniques are typically necessary in order to understand why variance from the planned cost, schedule, or functionality might be occurring. In addition, other evaluation methods are typically more useful in assessing other significant questions, such as whether a project is worth undertaking (or continuing) and, after the investment process is completed, whether an investment might be having an impact on achievement of an agency’s mission or the success of a public policy, compared with what would have happened without the investment. EVM may be of increasing salience in executive branch practices and, implicitly or explicitly, in presentations to …
