Presentation Title: A Case Study in using EVM to improve Project Management and gain funding: the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Story
Date and Time: Friday, May 11, 2018 at 8:30 am
Abstract: The Federal Aviation Administration has done an outstanding job of ensuring that air travel is the safest it has ever been, but has not compiled the same record in terms of managing its major capital improvement projects. In 1993, it had the largest federal civilian project failure when a 5.1 Billion dollar program collapsed. Shortly afterwards the Government Accountability Office placed the entire FAA’s air traffic modernization program on its high risk list and the Office of Management and Budget began cutting 20-25 million dollars in funding each year from the program. The long slow recovery to both project improvement and fiscal credibility began in 1996 and, aided by the critical decision to implement earned value management (EVM) agency-wide, resulted in the air traffic modernization program being removed by GAO in 2009 and funding of over 100 million dollars restored. Robert Rovinsky was a key member of the executive and staff team that led the effort. He will share the lessons learned which include how to mobilize all parts of the “project management system” – acquisition, budget, internal oversight, IT, personnel, and senior leadership – and how to position EVM as the critical unifying role and forcing function. He believes that to the extent EVM and the improvements made from 1996-2009 are maintained is a major determining factor in the success or failure of the 25 Billion dollar NEXGEN program, the successor to the air traffic modernization program. Mr. Rovinsky also believes the lessons learned are applicable to current government initiatives such as the Modernization Act, and applicable to project management in municipal government and the private and nonprofit sectors as well.
Biography: Since 2013, Robert “Bob” Rovinsky has been a Principal at Deep Water Point, a group of over 60 former executives from the civilian, defense and intelligence agencies and as well as over 60 former executives from federal contractors. Deep Water Point helps over 100 companies large and small win contracts with the Federal Government.
From 1999- 2012, Dr. Rovinsky directed an office responsible for reviewing and improving all IT investment decisions within the office of the CIO of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). His office reviewed the capital investment business cases for all IT investments (over 2 billion dollars annually) to make sure that the agency was a good steward of its share of federal funds. As part of this effort, Bob led the implementation of earned value management (EVM) in the FAA, for which he received the first Gary Christle leadership award from the Project Management Institute’s College of Performance Measurement. He and his office led the effort that resulted in the FAA Air Traffic Modernization Program being removed from the GAO High Risk List, and he helped other agencies implement EVM and in their efforts to remove their programs from the GAO High Risk List. He co-chaired the Civilian Agencies Industry Working Group for the National Defense Industrial Association, which aims to share best practices in project management between industry and government. Prior to the FAA Bob held executive positions within Fairfax County Virginia and the US Department of Agriculture, and consulted in five countries and taught at seven universities. Bob holds a doctoral degree in Operations Research and a Masters degree in Mathematics, both from Cornell University, a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania, and a CIO Certificate from the National Defense University. In Bob’s spare time, he is a professional storyteller.
