Risk and Uncertainty Practices in GAO's Best Practice Guides

摘要

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is responsible for assisting the Congress in its oversight of the federal government, including agencies' stewardship of public funds. With the help of industry and government experts, GAO has published a series of best practices guides related to program management. The GAO Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide established a consistent methodology based on best practices that analysts can use to develop and manage program cost estimates. The GAO Schedule Assessment Guide is a companion to the cost guide and presents ten best practices associated with developing and maintaining a reliable schedule. In this paper, we describe GAO's development of its best practices cost estimating guide and the features of both guides, with a focus on cost and schedule risk and uncertainty analysis leading practices.