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The DCMA 14-point assessment is the fastest honest test of an integrated master schedule. It will not tell you whether a program can finish on time. It will tell you whether the schedule is even capable of answering that question, which is the first thing anyone recovering a program needs to know.
What the assessment is for
A defense program's integrated master schedule is supposed to be a working model of the program: every task, every dependency, every handoff, linked so that a slip in one place shows up correctly everywhere it matters. When that model is sound, the schedule can predict the finish date, show the critical path and support earned value reporting. When it is not, the dates it produces are opinions dressed up as analysis.
The Defense Contract Management Agency built the fourteen checks to separate the two. Each check measures one structural property of the schedule and compares it with a threshold. Together they show whether the schedule network is complete, whether the logic is being overridden, whether the float values mean anything, and whether the program is actually executing to its baseline.
What does DCMA stand for, and what does it do on a program?
DCMA stands for the Defense Contract Management Agency, the Department of Defense agency that administers defense contracts on the government's behalf once they are awarded. The contracting office buys; DCMA watches whether the contractor delivers what was bought, on the terms agreed.
Worth being precise about what this means for a supplier, because the agency's name on the checklist causes a lot of confusion. For most contractors and suppliers, DCMA is not sitting inside the program reading the schedule every month. Where they appear, it is contract administration, and in practice product and source inspection before hardware ships. The 14-point assessment carries their name because that is where it originated, not because an analyst is waiting to run it on you. The reason to care about it is simpler: it is the fastest way to find out whether your own schedule is a working model. Its people review contractor business systems, including earned value management systems, and on the largest contracts they conduct the reviews that validate an earned value system against EIA-748. They perform quality assurance at contractor and supplier facilities, monitor delivery and production progress, and report to the program office on whether a contractor's schedule and cost data can be trusted. That last role is where the fourteen-point assessment comes from. Anyone who takes your integrated master schedule apart, a customer program office, an incoming program manager, or you, is asking the same question this page asks: is this schedule a working model of the program, or a list of hopeful dates?
For a contractor, the practical consequence is simple. DCMA findings reach the program office and the contracting officer, and a significant deficiency in a business system can lead to payment withholds under the contract's business systems clause. A schedule that holds up to these checks is not only good practice. It protects cash flow and credibility with the customer.
What are the 14 points of the DCMA assessment?
The thresholds below are the commonly applied DCMA guidance values. Percentages are measured against incomplete tasks unless noted.
| # | Check | What it measures | Threshold |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Logic | Tasks missing a predecessor, a successor or both | 5% or less |
| 2 | Leads | Relationships with a negative lag | None |
| 3 | Lags | Relationships with a positive lag | 5% or less |
| 4 | Relationship types | Share of relationships that are finish to start | 90% or more |
| 5 | Hard constraints | Tasks with date constraints that override logic | 5% or less |
| 6 | High float | Tasks with more than 44 working days of total float | 5% or less |
| 7 | Negative float | Tasks with total float below zero | None |
| 8 | High duration | Tasks with a baseline duration over 44 working days | 5% or less |
| 9 | Invalid dates | Forecasts in the past or actuals in the future | None |
| 10 | Resources | Tasks with duration but no resources or cost assigned | None |
| 11 | Missed tasks | Tasks that should have finished by now but did not | 5% or less |
| 12 | Critical path test | Whether a delay on the critical path moves the end date | Must pass |
| 13 | Critical path length index | Critical path length plus total float, divided by critical path length | 0.95 or more |
| 14 | Baseline execution index | Tasks completed divided by tasks that should have completed | 0.95 or more |
What each group of checks is really telling you
Checks 1 to 5 test the network. Missing logic means a task can slip without moving anything else, so the schedule cannot show the consequence of a delay. Leads, long lags and unusual relationship types hide time inside the links instead of in visible tasks. Hard constraints pin dates in place and stop the logic from working at all. A schedule that fails here is not really a network. It is a list of dates.
Checks 6 to 8 test whether the numbers mean anything. Large float usually signals missing successors rather than genuine slack. Negative float means the schedule already knows a commitment cannot be met. Very long tasks cannot be statused honestly, because nobody can say with confidence whether a ninety day task is forty or sixty percent complete.
Checks 9 and 10 test hygiene. A forecast date in the past is a sign the schedule is not being updated. Tasks without resources or budget cannot support earned value, which is usually the reason the schedule exists in the first place.
Checks 11 to 14 test execution. This is where the assessment stops being about how the schedule is built and starts being about how the program is running. The critical path test proves the schedule responds to delay the way it should. The critical path length index shows how much float the program really has left to reach its commitment. The baseline execution index shows how reliably the team finishes what it planned to finish. On a program in trouble, check 14 is often the most revealing number in the whole file.
How is the critical path length index calculated?
The critical path length index compares the time the program has left with the time its critical path needs. The formula is the remaining critical path length plus the total float on the critical path, divided by the remaining critical path length. Both values are measured in working days from the status date to the contract completion milestone or the baseline finish.
| Remaining critical path length | Total float on the critical path | CPLI | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200 days | +10 days | 210 / 200 = 1.05 | Some margin exists; the finish is achievable if execution holds |
| 200 days | 0 days | 200 / 200 = 1.00 | No margin; any critical slip moves the finish |
| 200 days | -10 days | 190 / 200 = 0.95 | At the threshold; the program must recover 10 days to finish on time |
| 100 days | -10 days | 90 / 100 = 0.90 | Below threshold; the same 10 days of negative float is twice as hard to recover with half the time left |
The last two rows show why the index is more useful than the float value alone. Ten days of negative float early in a program can often be recovered through resequencing or added shifts. The same ten days with a hundred days remaining leaves far fewer options, and the index drops accordingly. The number is only as good as the critical path behind it, which is why check 12 has to pass before check 13 is worth reading.
Is the 14-point assessment still what DCMA uses?
The fourteen checks remain the most widely recognized shorthand for schedule health across the defense industry, and most scheduling analysis tools still report them. DCMA has since folded schedule analysis into its broader earned value compliance metrics, which test many of the same properties alongside cost and baseline measures. In practice, a schedule that passes the fourteen checks and the critical path test is well placed for any of the government's current schedule reviews, and one that fails several of them will draw questions whichever framework is used.
What is the difference between DCAA and DCMA?
DCAA, the Defense Contract Audit Agency, audits a contractor's costs. DCMA, the Defense Contract Management Agency, administers the contract and oversees performance. Both are Department of Defense agencies and they work closely together, but they answer different questions, and contractors who confuse them tend to prepare the wrong evidence for the wrong review.
| DCAA | DCMA | |
|---|---|---|
| Core question | Are the costs charged to the government allowable, allocable and reasonable? | Is the contractor delivering what the contract requires, on time and to standard? |
| Typical work | Audits of proposals, incurred costs, accounting systems and estimating systems | Contract administration, earned value surveillance, quality assurance, production and delivery monitoring |
| Schedule and EVMS role | Checks that recorded actual costs are accurate and properly charged | Reviews schedule health and earned value data; validates EVMS on the largest contracts |
| Where you meet them | Pricing a proposal, year-end incurred cost submissions, accounting system reviews | Program reviews, baseline reviews, site quality visits, business system reviews |
| Output | Audit reports advising the contracting officer | Findings, surveillance reports and recommendations to the contracting officer and program office |
The two overlap in earned value. DCAA cares that the actual cost of work performed is recorded correctly. DCMA cares that the plan, the earned value and the schedule behind it are credible. A program with clean accounting and a broken schedule will satisfy one agency and not the other.
Which tools run the checks?
Dedicated schedule analysis tools, scheduling software add-ins and export-based scripts can all calculate the fourteen metrics from a native schedule file. The arithmetic is straightforward; the differences between tools lie in how they treat summary tasks, level of effort, milestones and completed work, which can change the percentages. Whatever tool you use, apply the same settings every period so the trend is meaningful, and document them so a customer or DCMA analyst reproducing your numbers gets the same answer.
How to run the assessment without fooling yourself
Most scheduling tools and add-ins will run the fourteen checks automatically. The arithmetic is the easy part. The judgment is in reading the results.
Look at the tasks, not only the percentages. A schedule can pass the logic check at four percent while the missing links sit on exactly the supplier deliveries that drive the program. Every flagged task deserves a look, starting with the ones nearest the critical path.
Treat the thresholds as tripwires, not targets. A team that is told to get under five percent will find ways to get under five percent. Dummy links and cosmetic fixes make the report green and the schedule worse. The point is a schedule that behaves correctly, and the checks are evidence of that, not a substitute for it.
Run it every period, and trend it. A single assessment is a snapshot. The baseline execution index and missed task count trended over six months show whether a program is recovering or quietly getting worse, long before the finish date moves.
Fix the structure before you argue about dates. There is no point debating whether the program can make a milestone using a schedule that cannot show what drives it. Repair the logic and constraints first. The real dates tend to reveal themselves once the network works.
Where the assessment fits in a program recovery
When Set Boundaries steps into a program that is slipping, the schedule is tested before anything else, because every later decision depends on it. The fourteen checks give a fast, defensible picture that the customer and DCMA already recognize. From there the work is practical: repair the network, rebuild the durations with the people doing the work, and establish a critical path the whole team can see. The schedule recovery plan is built on that foundation, not on the old dates.
If your schedule is failing more than a handful of the checks, or you are heading into a review and are not sure how it will hold up, schedule a call and we can talk through what the assessment is telling you.
Related guides
- Microsoft Project scheduling for defense programs
- Building an integrated master schedule that works
- EIA-748 earned value management systems
- Preparing for an integrated baseline review
References
- Defense Contract Management Agency, EVMS program analysis guidance, the source of the 14-point schedule assessment and its thresholds.
- US Government Accountability Office, Schedule Assessment Guide: Best Practices for Project Schedules, GAO-16-89G.
- US Government Accountability Office, Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide, GAO-20-195G.
- SAE International and the Electronic Industries Alliance, EIA-748, Earned Value Management Systems.
- National Defense Industrial Association, Integrated Program Management Division, Planning and Scheduling Excellence Guide (PASEG).
- Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement, contractor business systems and earned value management system clauses.
Questions
Common questions
What is the DCMA 14-point schedule assessment?
A set of fourteen structural checks the Defense Contract Management Agency developed to test whether a contractor's integrated master schedule is built soundly enough to be trusted. It looks at logic, relationships, constraints, float, durations, resources and execution against the baseline. It does not tell you whether the plan is achievable, only whether the schedule is capable of telling you.
Is passing the 14-point assessment required by contract?
The fourteen checks are an analysis tool, not a contract requirement in themselves. What contracts require is a schedule that supports earned value management and reflects the real plan, delivered in the format the data requirements specify. In practice, a schedule that fails several of the checks will not survive being taken apart by a customer program office, so most defense contractors treat the thresholds as their own working standard and run the check on themselves.
How often should the assessment be run?
At minimum before every schedule submission and before any baseline review. On a program in recovery, running it every reporting period is cheap insurance, because the checks catch structural damage while it is still small enough to fix. Trending the results month to month is more informative than any single run, since a steady rise in missing logic or missed tasks is an early warning.
Can a schedule pass all fourteen checks and still be wrong?
Yes. The checks test structure, not judgment. A schedule can be perfectly linked, lightly constrained and still built on durations nobody believes, or miss work that was never captured. Passing the assessment is the entry ticket to a credible schedule, not proof of one. The durations, the completeness of the scope and the critical path still need review by people who understand the work.
What is the baseline execution index?
The baseline execution index, or BEI, divides the number of tasks actually completed by the number the baseline said should be complete by the status date. A value of 1.0 means the team is finishing work exactly as planned; below the common threshold of 0.95 means work is falling behind. Because it counts tasks rather than dollars, it often reveals slipping execution before cost and schedule performance indices do.
What is the critical path length index?
The critical path length index, or CPLI, measures how realistic it is to finish on time. It adds the total float on the critical path to the remaining critical path length, then divides by that remaining length. A value of 1.0 means the program has exactly enough time; below 0.95 suggests the end date is at risk without recovery action. Negative float drives it down sharply.
What is DCMA in project management?
DCMA is the Defense Contract Management Agency, the US Department of Defense agency that administers defense contracts and oversees contractor performance, including cost, schedule, quality and earned value management systems. In project management the name is best known for the DCMA 14-point assessment, a set of checks on the structural quality of an integrated master schedule, such as missing logic, constraints, lags and high float. Many teams use it as a general schedule quality test. Set Boundaries builds and repairs schedules so they pass these checks.
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