The GAO Schedule Assessment Guide: 10 Best Practices, Briefly
What Is the GAO Schedule Assessment Guide?
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) publishes the GAO Schedule Assessment Guide (GAO-16-89G) to provide best practices for developing and managing project schedules. It is widely used by federal agencies, contractors, and auditors to ensure schedules are credible, realistic, and reliable. The guide outlines 10 best practices that form the basis for evaluating schedule quality, often referenced in government contracts and oversight reviews.
Who Uses the GAO Schedule Assessment Guide?
The guide is primarily used by:
- Federal project managers and schedulers who need to comply with government standards.
- Auditors (e.g., GAO, Inspectors General) who assess schedule reasonableness.
- Contractors bidding on or executing U.S. government projects, especially in defense, aerospace, and infrastructure.
- Independent reviewers performing schedule health checks.
The 10 Best Practices Distilled
The GAO guide organizes best practices into four categories: Planning, Development, Maintenance, and Analysis. Here is a concise summary of each practice with practical implications.
1. Planning: Capture All Activities
The schedule must include all activities necessary to deliver the project scope. Missing work leads to unrealistic baselines. Tip: Use a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to ensure completeness.
2. Planning: Sequence Activities
Activities must be logically linked with dependencies (finish-to-start, start-to-start, etc.). A schedule with missing or incorrect logic is unreliable. Tip: Avoid excessive use of start-to-start lags; prefer finish-to-start relationships.
3. Planning: Assign Resources
Resources (labor, materials, equipment) should be assigned to activities to validate feasibility. Without resource loading, duration estimates may be optimistic.
4. Planning: Establish Durations
Duration estimates must be realistic and defensible. Use historical data, expert judgment, or parametric estimation. Tip: Document assumptions behind each duration.
5. Development: Identify Critical Path
The schedule must have a valid critical path. GAO expects the longest path to drive the project end date. Tip: Use a scheduling tool (like Primavera P6) to compute the critical path automatically.
6. Development: Perform Float Analysis
Total float should be reasonable. Excessive float (e.g., >25% of project duration) may indicate unrealistic logic or missing constraints. Tip: Investigate activities with very high or negative float.
7. Development: Incorporate Risk
Schedule risk analysis (e.g., Monte Carlo simulation) is recommended for large or high-risk projects. This quantifies confidence in the completion date.
8. Maintenance: Update Schedule Regularly
The schedule must be updated with actual progress and remaining durations. Outdated schedules lose credibility. Tip: Update at least monthly, and track variance.
9. Maintenance: Baseline Management
Changes must be managed through a formal baseline change process. Uncontrolled changes undermine the schedule’s integrity.
10. Analysis: Conduct Schedule Health Checks
Regularly assess the schedule against GAO criteria. This includes checking for missing logic, invalid dates, and excessive constraints. You can run these checks free in the browser with Project Assure, which parses your Primavera P6 XER locally and performs DCMA 14-point, GAO, and NASA checks instantly.
How GAO Differs from DCMA
The GAO Schedule Assessment Guide and the DCMA 14-Point Schedule Assessment are complementary but distinct:
| Aspect | GAO | DCMA |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Best practices for schedule credibility | Metrics-based health checks |
| Output | Qualitative assessment with recommendations | Pass/fail scores for 14 metrics |
| Use case | Audits, oversight, high-risk projects | Contractor schedule evaluations |
| Risk analysis | Explicitly required | Optional (not in 14-point) |
While DCMA checks are automated and quantitative, GAO requires deeper analysis of logic, risk, and resource realism. Many organizations use both: DCMA for quick health scans and GAO for comprehensive reviews.
Checking Your Schedule Against GAO Criteria
To assess your schedule against the GAO guide, follow these steps:
- Export your schedule from Primavera P6 as an XER file.
- Run a GAO-style check using a tool like Project Assure (free, browser-based, no upload required). It will flag issues like missing logic, negative float, and incomplete WBS.
- Review the results and address each finding. For example, if the tool reports “activities without predecessors,” add missing dependencies.
- Document your analysis and corrective actions for audit readiness.
Remember: GAO compliance is not about passing a single test but demonstrating a disciplined scheduling process throughout the project lifecycle.
Run these checks free, in your browser
Free, browser-based Primavera P6 XER schedule analyser — DCMA 14-point, GAO & NASA checks, EVM/S-curve, and forensic baseline-vs-update comparison. Nothing is uploaded; your XER is parsed locally in the browser. 3 free analyses, no card required.
Analyse your XER →Frequently asked questions
What is the GAO Schedule Assessment Guide?
The GAO Schedule Assessment Guide (GAO-16-89G) is a U.S. government publication that outlines 10 best practices for developing and managing credible project schedules. It is used by federal agencies, auditors, and contractors to evaluate schedule quality.
How does GAO differ from DCMA schedule assessment?
GAO focuses on qualitative best practices and risk analysis, while DCMA uses 14 quantitative metrics for health checks. GAO is broader and more narrative; DCMA is metric-driven and often automated.
What are the 10 best practices of the GAO guide?
They cover planning (capture all activities, sequence, assign resources, establish durations), development (identify critical path, float analysis, incorporate risk), maintenance (update regularly, baseline management), and analysis (conduct health checks).
How can I check my schedule against GAO criteria?
You can use free tools like Project Assure to analyze your Primavera P6 XER file. It checks for logic errors, missing constraints, float issues, and more. Then manually review risk and resource loading as per GAO guidance.
Is the GAO guide mandatory for all government projects?
Not all, but it is highly recommended and often required for major acquisitions, high-risk projects, and audits. Many federal contracts explicitly reference the GAO guide as a standard.