Earned Value Management (EVM)
Earned value management integrates a contract's cost, schedule, and technical scope into one performance measurement baseline so progress can be measured objectively. FAR 34.201 requires an EVMS, built to the EIA-748 standard, for major acquisitions for development in accordance with OMB Circular A-11.
The mechanics compare three numbers for each slice of work: the budgeted value of work scheduled, the budgeted value of work performed — the earned value — and its actual cost. The spreads between them are the schedule and cost variances, visible months before an overrun shows up in invoices.
DoD sets the thresholds in DFARS 234.201. Cost or incentive contracts of $20 million or more require an EVMS that complies with EIA-748; at $50 million or more the system must be one the cognizant federal agency has formally determined compliant. Below $20 million application is optional and rests on a documented cost-benefit decision, and on firm-fixed-price contracts of any value EVM is discouraged and takes a waiver. Under FAR 34.201 offerors without a compliant EVMS are not eliminated from award; they submit a compliance plan, and monthly EVM reports run wherever the system applies.
The failure mode is baseline churn. An EVMS can pass validation and still report nothing useful if the program rebaselines whenever variances grow uncomfortable, because each replan resets the very deviation the metric exists to expose.
Regulatory Reference
FAR 34.201; DFARS 234.201; DFARS 252.234-7002; OMB Circular A-11; EIA-748
RFO Status
The Part 34 model deviation, released in the first wave in May 2025, keeps subpart 34.2 with its OMB Circular A-11 and EIA-748 anchors while reserving the separate integrated baseline review notice provisions at 52.234-2 and 52.234-3; Part 34 is not in the June 2026 first-batch proposed rules.
Category
Processes & Methods
How AcqBot Helps
AcqBot checks a requirement against the DFARS 234.201 tiers, drafts the EVMS provision and clause set for whichever applies, and tracks the monthly EVM reports so cost and schedule variances reach the contracting officer while the contract can still absorb a correction.
Related glossary entries
Sources Sought Notice
A Sources Sought Notice is a pre-solicitation announcement, typically posted to SAM.gov, asking companies to identify their interest and capability to perform a prospective requirement — primarily used as market research to shape competition and set-aside decisions.
Request for Information (RFI)
A Request for Information (RFI) is a formal market research instrument used to gather industry input on capabilities, approaches, pricing structures, or draft requirements when the government is not yet ready to solicit — responses are voluntary and non-binding.
Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA)
Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) is a source selection process that awards to the lowest-priced offeror whose proposal meets minimum acceptability standards — no credit is given for exceeding requirements, and tradeoffs between price and quality are not permitted.
Best-Value Tradeoff
The best-value tradeoff process permits award to other than the lowest-priced or highest-rated offeror when the source selection authority documents that the superior proposal's benefits are worth its price premium, or that a cheaper proposal's savings outweigh its weaknesses.