Rethinking Integrated Program Management in Incremental Acquisitions

Abstract

The Department of Defense is mandating and implementing acquisition practices grounded in Agile methods to include DevSecOps. This approach allows for the incremental implementation of a system instead of fully specifying the performance. Managing complex systems requires an integrated approach that balances the technical, cost, and schedule with the end-user need. A program management team can use various tools to plan, track progress, forecast, and replan to keep the project moving forward. Earned Value Management is one of the many tools that support the program manager. It defines a disciplined set of steps for integrated planning and technical, cost, and schedule analyses. When Agile methods are implemented correctly, they meet earned value management’s intent and give the program manager a continuous planning and execution process to communicate project health and status transparently in real-time. One of the aspects of earned value management is that a contractor must have an Earned Value Management System (EVMS) that meets all the requirements of EIA- STD-748D, “Earned Value Management Systems (EVMS)” (n.d.). This paper discusses an approach for an independent Third Party to assess a contractor’s compliance with this standard.