DCMA DECM 06A301b

Does the Baseline Finish Date Align with the Contract?

“Read your contracts. Up and down, left and right.”

- Lauren Jauregui

In this check, DCMA asks an acronym-filled question:

Does the IMS baseline finish date align with the contractual/CLIN finish (POP) date?

Let’s break down the acronyms, so the question makes more sense. IMS is a term used commonly in the defense community to mean schedule. It stands for “Integrated Master Schedule.” CLIN stands for Contract Line Item Number. POP stands for “Period of Performance.”

So, what DCMA is asking here is: how many baseline finish dates in the schedule fall beyond the latest finish date specified in the contract? And the answer they’re looking for is zero.

Why do they check for this?

At a high level, the schedule can be seen as one part of the overall plan to fulfill the contract. It should present a credible plan for building the deliverables according to what the contract specifies. It’s also essential to deliver the end product within the contractually agreed-upon dates.

Next steps

For any baseline finish dates that fall beyond the contract finish date, ascertain first whether those baseline dates are, in fact, correct. It’s a good practice to make sure that all of the other checks pass and that there is confidence that the critical path is being calculated correctly before flagging this as an issue.

If the “out of contract” dates are calculated properly and look correct, bring this issue to all appropriate stakeholders as soon as possible. There is a conflict between the plan and the contract requirements that must be addressed.

14 Point Analyzer