Government Track
Program Coordinator: Buddy Everage
Federal Government Update
The Government Track portion of the practice symposia
offers attendees the opportunity to hear from senior
officials from the Department of Defense (DoD), Government
Accountability Office (GAO) and other Civil
agencies regarding policies, practices and initiatives
related to the implementation and use of EVM.
GT01 DCMA’s 14 Point Schedule Assessment vs.
GAO’s 11 Point Schedule Risk Analysis
Michael R. Nosbisch, SM&A
Karen Richey, U.S. Government Accountability Office
GT02 The Rayleigh Model: A New Tool for Forecasting
Project Cost and Duration
Wayne Abba, Abba Consulting
GT03 Implementation of EVM at the Enterprise Level
Dr. Robert Rovinsky, Director of IT Enterprise Services,
Office of the CIO, FAA
GT04 Lessons learned from Implementing EVM on a large scale IT portfolio
At the Department of State (Dos)
Danny Toler, Department of State, Enterprise Network Management (ENM)
Kimberly D. Baltimore, Dept. of State, Enterprise Network Management
Dominick LoGalbo, Department off State, Enterprise Network Management
Gerald Caron, Department of State, Enterprise Network Management (ENM)
John Ready, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Nicholas A. DeBenedetto, PricewaterhouseCoopers
GT05 Implementation of EVM Measuring Technical Progress
Ken Aims, AES-100 Program Manager, Federal Aviation Admin.
Keith Kratzert, EVM Focal Point, Federal Aviation Administration
GT06 Using EVM to Satisfy OMB Program Performance Requirements
Reuben E. Maher, Blue Canopy, LLC
GT 01 - DCMA’s 14 Point Schedule Assessment vs.
GAO’s 11 Point Schedule Risk Analysis
The Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), in their role as Executive Agent for EVMS within the Defense Department, has adopted the “14 Point Assessment” as a means of performing an objective and thorough analysis of the integrated master schedule (IMS) component of a contactor’s earned value management system (EVMS). Conversely, the GAO Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide is currently recommending that an “11 point schedule risk assessment” be conducted as a best practice to predict a level of confidence in meeting a program’s completion date. Even though the use of critical path method (CPM) scheduling is not specified/required by ANSI/EIA 748-B Standard, both of these assessments are heavily focused on CPM-based principles and fundamentals—this presentation will compare and contrast them in the attempt to consolidate both into a single approach that might be universally applied across all government agencies and their contracts (whether or not EVMS is contractually required).
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Michael R. Nosbisch, SM&A
Phone: (562) 896-0374 Fax: (949) 975-1624 e-mail: michael.nosbisch@smawins.com
Michael has over 21 years of experience in project management and controls within both the government and private sectors. He has worked for several of the leading engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) firms in the industry, to include URS Corporation, Jacobs Engineering, and Kiewit. Until recently, Michael served as Vice President of Project Controls for the federal government-dedicated business unit of Parsons Corporation. In September of 2009, he assumed the role of Vice President, Earned Value Management for SM&A, a leading management consulting firm headquartered in Newport Beach, CA. In this capacity, he is responsible for the EVM Compliance and Consulting practice within SM&A’s Program Services Group. Michael is also an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California, teaching graduate level courses in heavy construction estimating and scheduling.
Michael was certified as a PMP in 1999. He has been an active member of AACE International since 1999, earning numerous professional certifications as well as currently serving on AACEI’s Board of Directors as Vice President, Regions. In addition, Michael is an active member of both NDIA’s Program Management Systems Committee (PMSC) and the Energy Facility Contractor’s Group’s (EFCOG’s) Project Management Working Group (PMWG).
Karen Richey, U.S. Government Accountability Office
Phone: (202) 512-4784 Fax: e-mail: richeyk@gao.gov
Karen Richey is a senior cost analyst in GAO’s Center for Technology and Engineering, where she is involved in performing cost analyses and technology audits on a wide range of systems. In the past few years, Karen has been responsible for championing the use of earned value management as an auditing tool at GAO. Certified by the National Defense University as a Chief Information Officer (CIO), Karen is also Level-III certified in the field of cost estimating and financial management. She has 17 years experience in the fields of cost estimating and technology auditing.
Before joining the GAO, Karen was a cost analyst for the Department of the Navy where she performed earned value management and developed independent cost estimates for major weapon and automated information systems. Karen holds a degree in Statistics and Mathematics from the University of South Carolina. She led the development of the GAO Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide which provides auditors with best practice criteria for determining the reliability of cost estimates. In addition to auditing, Karen also provides training classes for auditors on cost estimating, schedule analysis, and EVM.
GT 02 - The Rayleigh Model:
A New Tool for Forecasting Project Cost and Duration
In 2009 the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA), a Federally Funded Research & Development Center, published a research paper showing the value of applying the nonlinear Rayleigh distribution as a tool for contract/project planning and as a supplement to earned value analysis. The model is only crucially dependent on actual cost data and a target cost and yields independent forecasts of final cost and schedule that are generally superior to other estimation techniques. Overall cost and schedule risk can also be calculated and a forward-looking dynamic path showing future cost and schedule performance can be graphed. The model was rigorously tested and validated against 107 completed development contracts, spanning 35 years, drawn from the DoD’s contract database. This presentation by one of the study’s co-authors will describe how the tool can be used for evaluating funding profiles, for contract planning, especially the Integrated Baseline Review, and for contract analysis. He will describe the management insights, based on the authors’ experience and prompted by various data conditions, which are built into the tool.
Wayne Abba, Abba Consulting
Phone: (703) 658-1815 Email: abbaconsulting@cox.net
Wayne Abba is an independent consultant who advises government and private sector organizations on integrated project management solutions. He also is a part-time Research Analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses, a federally-funded research and development center.
From 1999 to 2004, Mr. Abba was Vice President for Integrated Management Services with Dekker, Ltd., providing software solutions and consulting for project management.
For seventeen years before retiring in 1999, Mr. Abba was the senior program analyst for contract performance management in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition & Technology), where he was awarded three Secretary of Defense medals for Meritorious Civilian Service. In 1999 he received the Project Management Institute’s Distinguished Contribution Award. He is a corporate member of the National Defense Industrial Association and helped write NDIA management guides that were adopted by the Office of Management and Budget for use by all government agencies and their contractors. As president of the PMI College of Performance Management in 2001-02, Mr. Abba began development of the Practice Standard for Earned Value Management. PMI published the standard in 2005, making this powerful technique for integrating the project management disciplines accessible to project managers worldwide. He is a contributing author of the Government Accountability Office’s “Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide: Best Practices for Developing and Managing Capital Program Costs,” intended for use by auditors and all government agencies, and a member of the PMI PMBOK® Guide--Fourth Edition Project Team, contributing to chapters 7 (Cost) and 12 (Procurement).
GT 03 - Implementation of EVM at the Enterprise Level
In this workshop, Dr. Rovinsky will discuss how the FAA successfully implemented EVM to be useful for those at the management level and how the implementation ultimately resulted in a positive return on investment for the agency. He credits FAA’s implementation of EVM and the transformation in program management practices that occurred as contributing to FAA Air Traffic Modernization Program being removed from the GAO High Risk List in 2009. It was the only program removed during the 2009-10 biennial cycle. He was recently awarded the first Gary Christle Leadership award by PMI’s College of Performance Management for his leadership in EVM.
The presentation will cover exactly how the FAA got on-and off- GAO’s High Risk List, how the FAA successfully implemented EVM, what project managers have to say about EVM, what EVM products and processes were followed, and what the greatest EVM accomplishments were for the agency. Dr. Rovinksy will then open up the workshop to discussion, allowing attendees to report on the obstacles preventing them from gaining management acceptance when implementing EVM in their own agency or company. An article detailing the findings of this workshop will be published in an upcoming issue of CrossTalk.
Dr. Robert Rovinsky, Director of IT Enterprise Services, Office of the CIO, FAA
Phone: 202-493-4019 Email: Robert.rovinsky@faa.gov
As director of IT Enterprise Services, Dr. Rovinsky directs an office responsible for reviewing and improving all IT investment decisions within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Prior to taking this assignment, he served the FAA in a variety of capacities, including leading an investment analysis team that reviewed all the agency's satellite navigation programs, acting as program manager for air traffic flow modeling, and working on an airspace design effort for New York City's airports. Prior to coming to the FAA in 1990, Dr. Rovinsky directed the Office of Research and Statistics for Fairfax County, Virginia, where he was responsible for all software systems used by the County and for the statistical and economic analyzes used in County decision-making. Dr. Rovinsky was the Senior Information Manager and leader of an Operations Research Group within the US Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service from 1977 through 1987. He has consulted in the areas of information technology, statistics, and management in Egypt, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Costa Rica, and Morocco, and has taught Operations Research, Engineering, and Statistics at several universities. He holds a doctoral degree in Operations Research and a Masters degree in Mathematics, both from Cornell University, and has published widely on the applications of Operations Research. He did his undergraduate work in mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania, and took graduate work at George Washington University in economics and managerial accounting.
GT 04 - Lessons learned from implementing EVM on a large scale IT portfolio
at the Department of State (DoS)
The DoS Office of Enterprise Network Management (ENM) has leveraged EVM to assess program performance and enhance program decisions for over 5 years. This is a two part session composed of a presentation and panel. In the presentation portion of this session, learn more about ENM’s approach to implementing and maturing their EVMS within the Department of State’s systems life cycle process (i.e. Managing State Projects). Then engage with ENM management and planning office staff to talk about their recommendations and lessons learned in this high tech and complex environment.
Danny Toler, Department of State,
Enterprise Network Management (ENM)
Phone: (703) 912-8029 E-Mail: tolerjd@state.gov
Mr. Toler is the Director of the Enterprise Network Management (ENM) Office within the Department of State's Bureau of Information Resource Management (IRM). He has over 30 years of experience in the IRM and Telecommunications fields. ENM operates and maintains network communications for more than 300 sites around the world, including embassies, consulates, annexes, and missions to international organizations. In 2009, the ENM program was selected as the Project Management Institute's (PMI's) first ever Government Special Interest Group (SIG) Project of the Year for 2009 from an international field of contenders. In addition, a key ENM project, iPost, a critical component of the Department of State's Risk Scoring Program, won the prestigious National Security Agency (NSA) Frank B. Rowlett Award for Organizational Achievement in 2008. From 1992 to 1999, Mr. Toler worked as a network architect for the United States Information Agency (USIA) in Washington, D.C. He led several major network modernization initiatives, including the merger of USIA networking resources and technical support functions into the DoS infrastructure. Prior to that, Mr. Toler was the point of contact for the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) Naval Electronics Center (NAVELEXCEN), Charleston's system command for all wide-area communications using the Defense Data Network (DDN). While serving on active duty in the United States Air Force, he was a systems analyst at Randolph AFB, San Antonio, Texas. Mr. Toler received a B.S. in Business Administration with an emphasis in Computer Information Systems from Charleston Southern University.
Kimberly D. Baltimore, Department of State, Enterprise Network Management (ENM)
Phone: 703-912-8025 E-Mail: baltimorekd@state.gov
Kimberly Baltimore is the Senior Program Manager for the Enterprise Network Management (ENM) Office of the U.S. Department of State responsible for the planning, budgeting, acquisition, and management of capital assets. ENM operates and maintains network communications with 300 sites around the world, including embassies, consulates, annexes, and missions to international organizations in addition to providing telecommunications support to the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. She has over 17 years of combined technical and program/project management experience primarily leading information technology implementations. She manages teams providing support for IT Capital Planning, Earned Value Management (EVM) implementation, policy development and analysis for enterprise-wide Department of State programs. As part of the EVM implementation for ENM, she conducts gap analysis and continuous improvement assessments as well as surveillance and integrated baseline review.
Ms. Baltimore serves as the Contracting Officer Representative/Contracting Officer Technical Representative (COR/COTR) for several large, performance-based contracts. In this role she monitors contractor performance, develops performance-based service level agreements (SLAs) which are incorporated as milestones into ENMs earned value management system (EVMS), tracks and monitors contractor technical performance against cost and schedule, and modifies and develops task orders.Ms. Baltimore is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute and is the first Department of State employee to obtain the Federal Acquisition Level III Certification for Program Managers at the Senior/Expert level. She also participates in public/private program management and earned value management workshops and conferences.
Dominick LoGalbo, Department of State, Enterprise Network Management (ENM)
Phone: 703-912-8087 E-Mail: logalbod@state.gov
Dominick LoGalbo, PMP and eligible candidate for Senior Foreign Service, is the Enterprise Network Management Division Chief, Information Management Bureau, US Department of State, Washington DC. He is responsible for secure network operations at 252 diplomatic sites world-wide. Since joining the State Department in 1988 Mr. LoGalbo has served in a wide number of international postings including service at our Embassies to: Mexico, India, Guyana, Algeria, Syria, Iraq, and Jerusalem. Prior to 1988 he was with the Department of Veterans Affairs also in the IT field managing an IT regional center serving 25 hospitals in Chicago IL.
Gerald Caron, Department of State, Enterprise Network Management (ENM)
Phone: 703-912-8529 E-Mail: carongj@state.gov
Gerald Caron is a Civil Service employee at the Department of State in the Bureau of Information Resource Management, Deputy CIO for Operations, Directorate of Enterprise Network Management. He has a total of 15 years of Federal Government experience. That experience includes 7 years with the U.S. Army, 2 years as a Federal Contractor with the Department of State and 6 years as a Computer Management Specialist Civil Service employee with the Department of State. His current assignment is management of the Department’s Enterprise Lab which evaluates, tests and configures software for use on the Department’s network and oversight of the implementation of the Federal Desktop Core Configuration within the Department.
Mr. Caron is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute. He holds many other certifications such as Certified Knowledge Management, Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator, Microsoft Certified Professional, CompTia Network +, CompTia Security+ and CompTia A+. He also has an Associate of Science Degree in Computer Information Systems – Network from Northern Virginia Community College.
John Ready, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Phone: (703) 918-1641 E-Mail: john.ready@us.pwc.com
John D. Ready is a Director in PwC's Washington Federal Practice - National Security Practice. He has ten years of consulting experience with public sector clients, assisting them in managing large-scale Program Management Offices (PMO), focusing on Risk Management and Quality Assurance. Additionally, he has eight years of Department of Defense experience as a Naval Flight Officer in the United States Navy, performing duties as an Operation Test Director (OTD) and project manager.
Mr. Ready is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute and is ITIL v3 Foundation certified. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Management from the University of Florida.
Nicholas A. DeBenedetto, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Phone: (703) 918-3433 Fax : (813) 342-8044 E-Mail: nicholas.a.debenedetto@us.pwc.com
Nicholas DeBenedetto is a Manager in PwC's Washington Federal Practice - National Security Practice. He has over 10 years of combined technical program/project management experience supporting programs throughout all phases of the systems development lifecycle. He has managed teams that have provided a wide range of Earned Value Management (EVM) consulting support services for large scale Department of State and Federal Aviation Administration programs. He is highly proficient in the development, implementation and application of Program Management Office and supporting program processes in line with the Project Management Institute and Capability Maturity Model standards. Mr. DeBenedetto managed numerous international software applications and designed and deployed a web based program performance and evaluation application to 250 worldwide embassies. Mr. DeBenedetto is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute and Earned Value Professional (EVP) from the American Association of Cost Engineers International (AACE). He also holds a bachelor's degree in Management Information Systems, a Masters certificate in Applied Project Management Theory and a graduate certificate in Earned Value Management. He also actively participates in public/private program management working groups such as the GAO's Cost Estimating Expert Meeting, Program Management Systems Committee Working Group and the federal EVM Community of Interest.
GT 05 - Implementation of EVM Measuring Technical Progress
In this joint presentation, Ken Alms and Keith Kratzert will detail how the FAA successfully implemented Earned Value Management to measure technical progress. They will describe how they overcame the obstacles commonly faced by other agencies despite a recent assertion by the Department of Defense that it could not be done. There will be a thorough review of the FAA’s implementation of the OMB IT Dashboard using standard program milestones that effectively represent technical progress and are fully integrated with EVM.
In the workshop, Mr. Alms and Mr. Kratzert will first describe their integrated approach. They will show how they used milestones to represent technical accomplishments and detail how they gained management approval, which was subsequently used for CIO IT Dashboard Program Assessments. After covering the FAA’s process, workshop participants will participate in an open discussion about the problems other agencies and companies encounter when implementing EVM to measure technical progress. An article detailing the findings of this workshop will be published in an upcoming issue of CPM’s Measurable News.
Ken Alms, AES-100 Program Manager, Federal Aviation Administration
Phone: 202-385-8169 Email: Ken.Alms@faa.gov
Mr. Ken Alms is a Senior Information Technology (IT) executive with 25 years of experience in all phases of leadership, planning, management, and execution of large-scale IT programs in the federal government. As the Chief of IT Program & Portfolio Management at the Federal Aviation Administration, he is responsible for the IT Capital Planning process. In that role, he has played a major role in the successful implementation of EVM. Prior to his work at the FAA, he was the acting Director of the Enterprise Architecture and Planning Office for three years at the US Department of State. He directed Capital Planning; Enterprise Architecture, the e-Gov Initiative Program, and IT Strategic Planning. Before becoming acting director in 2006, Ken had experience in many areas of IT innovation at State. At State he had been involved with setting up and evolving most of the IT governance processes and budget submissions back to the 1990s. Prior to State, Ken worked at the US Coast Guard and Social Security Administration, both as a contractor and Government employee. He has a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification and is a graduate of the University of Maryland.
Keith Kratzert, EVM Focal Point, Federal Aviation Administration
Phone: (202) 385-8191 Email: Keith.Kratzert@faa.gov
Mr. Kratzert is serving as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Earned Value Management (EVM) Focal Point. His office is within the Air Traffic Organization (ATO), Office of Acquisition and Business Services. He is responsible for introducing EVM concepts and processes to FAA acquisition projects. Specific efforts include establishing EVM policy and guidance within the FAA Acquisition Management System, planning for and conducting of Integrated Baseline Reviews (IBR), preparing and presenting EVM training, coordinating external training course content to ensure a consistent EVM approach within the FAA, program and contract level validation, program and contract level surveillance, and implementing EVM within the context of the FAA organizational structure. Before joining the FAA, he provided support to Navy and DOD acquisition programs for ten years as a support contractor. He received a Level IV, Senior Acquisition Manager Certification from the Air Force Systems Command. Mr. Kratzert has received the Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Ohio University and the Master of Science in Public Administration from Troy State University. He is a member of the Project Management Institute’s College of Performance Management.
GT 06 - Using EVM to Satisfy OMB Program Performance Requirements
The mandate is real – with more government-wide contracts now under increased cost and schedule scrutiny, there is a greater demand for EVM-certified systems and processes. This session provides an overview of what steps the government can take to monitor and manage contractor performance in line with OMB regulations and department expectations. Blue Canopy uses real case study data to share lessons learned and pitfalls to avoid. Primary emphasis will be on what needs to be done after contract award to measure project success criteria and support open government transparency goals. The presentation will:
• Provide background on Earned Value Management (EVM).
• Show when EVM is required on Federal contracts.
• Identify how EVM will provide greater transparency into program performance.
• Highlight how EVM will help satisfy OMB contract performance expectations.
Reuben E. Maher, Blue Canopy, LLC
Phone: (703) 896-4018 Fax : (703) 435-9715 E-Mail: rmaher@bluecanopy.com
Reuben Maher manages Blue Canopy’s Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) practice and has approximately twelve years industry experience providing IT-related strategies and program management expertise to government and private sector clients throughout the entire systems development lifecycle. Mr. Maher has managed numerous large programs and provided guidance in maintaining control over all aspects of a program’s cost, schedule, and budget performance. He has led major technology initiatives at Fortune 500 companies and been integral in program planning, developing surveillance processes to monitor controls, and managing and mitigating risks by establishing rigorous reporting requirements.
In addition to his program management background, Mr. Maher wrote the Earned Value Readiness Guide and is responsible for all corporate solution development activities around Earned Value Management (EVM) including EV readiness and holistic program performance management. He also previously managed General Motors’ North American sales network of systems and processes.
Mr. Maher is both Project Management Professional (PMP) and Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) certified and possesses a Top Secret security clearance. Additionally, he received his Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from American University with a focus in Global Information Technology Management and Marketing. He earned his Bachelor of Arts (BA) with highest honors from Oral Roberts University with dual concentrations in Theology and Education.
