Integrity

CASE STUDY

EVM Facilitation & Training Improves Real-time Decision-making

HHS

Client

Health and Human Services, Office of Acquisitions Management, Contracts and Grants (AMCG)

Customer Challenge

The Office of Acquisitions Management, Contracts and Grants (AMCG) provides the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness & Response (ASPR) with acquisitions and grants management oversight and support. This enables ASPR’s mission of saving lives by reducing the adverse effects of public health emergencies, such as H1N1 flu or Ebola, and disasters such as Hurricane Katrina.

AMCG Project Officers (POs) require greater visibility and deeper understanding of high priority acquisition and project control issues in real time. Additionally, the AMCG Director required monthly enterprise-wide updates of all programs to identify cost, schedule and technical performance trends.

“I was really impressed with both the content and your presentation. It was to the point, well-organized, and immediately useful to me.”
HHS Project Officer

Integrity Solution

Using Earned Value Management (EVM) as a program management tool, Integrity facilitated real-time, detailed assessment of performance for high value, complex projects by integrating a project’s scope of work with the related budget and schedule. Integrity provided training to POs and CORs to ensure their continued use of the latest EVM techniques. Specifically, Integrity:

  • Provided pre-award review of the EVMS implementation plan and recommendations for contracts over $25M which required quarterly site visits across the nation supporting project officers
  • Provided a monthly analysis of EVM data and generated over approximately 100 monthly dashboards for applicable projects/contracts
  • Provided monthly briefings to the AMCG Director regarding Enterprise wide EVM status of all contracts; Developed portfolio dashboard brief for the AMCG Director to use in communicating trends with the ASPR Enterprise Senior Council. Created an “EVM Portfolio Dashboard” that succinctly lays out cost, schedule, and performance assessments and trends of each EVM contract per division
  • Introduced or advanced via training and consulting the latest techniques in EVM, including Earned Schedule for better project tracking
  • Identified and developed approximately half-dozen EVM topics for Training in first months of the contract

Valuable Results

The EVM Portfolio Dashboard created by Integrity improved situational awareness and enabled the AMCG Director to communicate an executive level snapshot of status and trends of project performance to ASPR senior leadership. It also:

  • Provided more time for technical reviews: Robust EVM Dashboard, updates and briefs enabled quicker analysis, enabling project officers to focus more of their time on technical reviews to ensure project effectiveness and mission alignment
  • Improved project tracking: Through advanced use and understanding of Earned Schedule practice to enable better project tracking. This has resulted in more accurate picture of a project’s schedule which can save money through better decision making
  • Reduced travel costs and lost work time by enabling POs and CORs to complete training on-site
  • Maximized real-world scenarios specific to department requirements and templates, and enhanced collaboration between POs and contract personnel who attended the training

Work with Integrity Management