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We are honored to welcome Wayne Abba, PMP, internationally-known speaker and consultant on Earned Value Management, as our featured speaker at the October 11th monthly meeting of the Silver Spring Chapter of PMI. Wayne will be speaking about the A-12 “Avenger” contract termination. In 1991, then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney withdrew support for the Navy’s troubled A-12 “Avenger II” stealth bomber program. Shortly afterward, on January 7, 1991, Rear Admiral William R. Morris, the U.S. Navy’s contract officer, issued a letter notifying McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics Corporation that the U.S. Navy was terminating the multi-billion dollar A-12 development contract for default. The termination letter explained that the action was based on the contractors’ inability “to complete the design, development, fabrication, assembly and test of the A-12 aircraft within the contract schedule,” as well as their “inability to deliver an aircraft that meets contract requirements.” The events leading to termination began with an analysis of the contractors’ earned value reporting by the Office of the Secretary of Defense. The contractors responded to the termination with a lawsuit in the US Court of Federal Claims contesting the default and seeking more favorable settlement terms. This was the largest contract termination in Department of Defense history, and led to wide-spread repercussions in government and industry. Through ten years of protracted and expensive litigation, court decisions precluded testimony on the contract’s earned value performance status, while finding in favor of the plaintiffs. That changed in 2000 when the Circuit Court, ruling on an appeal by the government, remanded the case to the Court of Federal Claims. Finally, in May 2001, the Court qualified Wayne Abba as an expert witness in the area of earned value analysis and heard his testimony. Earned value exhibits thus joined the innumerable other documents that had been generated in this extraordinary trial. This presentation will describe how earned value analysis revealed and quantified the contract performance issues and its role in the trial. The Court characterized the testimony as “very persuasive and effective” and said “it goes to the heart of this issue and does so in a very effective way.” The trial concluded in July 2001. As this synopsis goes to press, the parties are still awaiting a final decision. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from an industry leader about lessons learned over the last decade in earned value management which still resonate today. Event details:
Biography Wayne Abba
A retired public servant and now an independent consultant specializing in public sector management issues, Mr. Wayne Abba is known internationally for bringing Earned Value Management from government into the Project Management mainstream. He is active in industry and professional associations. Mr. Abba led the EVM initiatives during his public service career in the Department of Defense and continues to lead through his membership in the National Defense Industrial Association and the Project Management Institute’s College of Performance Management. In 1999, he received the Project Management Institute’s Distinguished Contribution Award for advancing project management in the public and private sectors. As president of the College in 2002-2003, Mr. Abba initiated development of the Practice Standard for Earned Value Management, which provides a powerful technique for integrating the project management disciplines to projects of any size. How to register for this event: Pre-registration: Please let us know if you plan to come to this event, by filling in the online registration form. You will be given instructions on how to pay for the event after you submit your registration. If you have already registered but have not yet paid, please see the payment instructions. Many thanks for your prompt response! Note that PMI Membership is not required in order to attend this event. PMPs may claim PDUs for the event.Cancelations and Refunds: If you register, please plan to come, whether or not you pre-pay. If you are unable to come, please notify us before Noon the day before the event, to give us time to plan accordingly. Cancelations received after that time will not be eligible for refunds. For those of you who have registered but have not yet paid (for example, because you plan to pay at the door), please understand that we are including you in the meal count, and if you are unable to come and do not let us know in advance (by Noon the day before), you are placing our plans at risk. Last-minute registrations: Depending on the event, last-minute registrations (the day of the event) may or may not be able to be accommodated. If the online registration is closed, you may assume that the meal count has already been submitted (but check first with Rusty at 240-472-1291 just to make sure). Note: For more information about future PMI-SSC meetings and events, or for comments/questions about this website, please contact Rusty Richards (rusty@pmi-ssc.org). |