CRS Report for Congress

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 ...