Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

To update this Guide, we sought input and feedback from all who were interested between June and October 2016. We received comments from the public, private companies, trade industry groups, and university researchers, as well as extensive comments from leading practitioners in government agencies and government working groups. We vetted each comment we received on whether it was actionable, within scope, technically correct, and feasible.

We shared new and significantly revised chapters with a committee of cost estimating, scheduling, and earned value management analysis experts. These specialists met at GAO headquarters semi-annually. The meetings were open to all with interest and expertise in cost estimating, schedule, and earned value management, as well as program managers and agency executives. Attendees were from government agencies, private companies, independent consultant groups, trade industry groups, and academia from around the world. We sent agendas to approximately 600 experts, and received feedback and discussion on agenda items through the meeting discussion and from telephone participants and email from members. Meeting minutes were documented and archived.

We reviewed each best practice and revised it if necessary. We based our revisions on our experience applying the best practices in audits since 2007, and endeavored to improve definitions, eliminate redundancy, and more clearly map the steps, best practices, and characteristics associated with a high-quality cost estimate. These changes are summarized in the introduction of this Guide. This revision therefore contains changes from, and supersedes, the 2009 Guide.

We conducted our work from June 2016 to March 2020 in accordance with all sections of GAO’s Quality Assurance Framework that are relevant to our objectives. The framework requires that we plan and perform the engagement to obtain sufficient and appropriate evidence to meet our stated objectives and to discuss any limitations in our work. We believe that the information and data obtained, and the analysis conducted, provide a reasonable basis for the guidance in this product.