Budget at Completion (BAC) is established early in the contract for every given level of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). They represent the total budget from which individual period Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (BCWS) values are derived and they are the benchmarks for computing overruns and underruns at the end of the contract. The budgets for all authorized work must be captured within the BAC.
Download: DAU EVM Gold Card
A contractor reports the cumulative Actual Cost of Work Performed (ACWP) for the work packages that have been completed. The difference between the BCWP and the ACWP is the Cost Variance (CV). If the actual costs at a time now (i.e., ACWP) are higher than the earned value at a time now (i.e., BCWP), we know that the contractor is currently overrunning cost and that the contractor’s Estimate at Completion (EAC) may be higher than the BAC.
The Defense Acquisition University (DAU) list five main EVM variables:
- BCWS = Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled
- BCWP = Budgeted Cost of Work Performed
- ACWP = Actual Cost of Work Performed
- BAC = Budget at Completion
- EAC = Estimate at Completion
AcqLinks and References:
- Defense Acquisition Guidebook (DAG)
- DoD Earned Value Management Implementation Guide (EVMIG)
- DAU EVM Gold Card
- DOE EVMS Gold Card
- Website: Cost Performance Index Equation Formulas Calculator
- Website: DoD EVMS Home Page
Updated: 5/22/2018
