When should an ibr be conducted?

An Integrated Baseline Review (IBR) (FAR 34.202)is a joint assessment conducted by the government Program Manager (PM) and the contractor to establish a mutual understanding of the Performance Measurement Baseline (PMB). This understanding provides for an agreement on a plan of action to evaluate the risks inherent in the PMB and the management processes that operate during program execution. The integrity of the project’s technical, schedule, and cost baselines is the IBR’s main concern. It should show that a project plan can be carried out and that project risks and opportunities have been recognized and assessed.

On government contracts, Program Managers are required to conduct IBR’s on all cost or incentive contracts that require the implementation of Earned Value Management (EVM) (contracts valued at or greater than $20 million). Must be conducted within 180 days of project start.

The purpose of the IBR is to verify the technical content and the realism of the related performance budgets, resources, and schedules. It should provide a mutual understanding of the inherent risks in offerors’/ contractors’ performance plans and the underlying management control systems, and it should formulate a plan to handle these risks. An IBR should be used to understand:

Completion of the review should result in the assessment of risk within the PMB and the degree to which the following have been established:

IBRs should be scheduled as early as practicable and the timing of the IBRs should take into consideration the contract period of performance. The process will be conducted not later than 180 calendar days (6 months) after:

IBRs are also performed at the discretion of the PM or within a reasonable time after the occurrence of major events in the life of a program. These events may be the completion of the Preliminary Design Review (PDR), completion of the Critical Design Review (CDR), a significant shift in the content and/or time phasing of the PMB, or when a major milestone such as the start of the production option of a development contract is reached. Continuous assessment of the PMB will identify when a new IBR should be conducted.

Updated: 6/26/2021

(a) When an EVMS is required, the Government will conduct an Integrated Baseline Review (IBR). (b) The purpose of the IBR is to verify the technical content and the realism of the related performance budgets, resources, and schedules.

An IBR is a formal review of a contractor’s performance measurement baseline (PMB) a customer conducts shortly after contract award or other project events to gain confidence in the contractor’s ability to deliver and meet contract objectives. Conducting an IBR helps to assure there is mutual agreement on the scope of work, schedule, resource requirements, and budget to meet the customer’s needs. It also assures there is a mutual understanding of the project’s risks and opportunities as well as how they will be managed.

Conducting an IBR is often a contractual requirement along with the requirement to implement an earned value management system (EVMS). Contractual documents specify the time frame for when the IBR must occur after contract award. This is typically within 90 to 180 calendar days. A customer may also conduct an IBR at critical milestones, funding gates, when transitioning to another project phase, or when significant changes are incorporated into a PMB.

An IBR is not an EVMS compliance review. The intent of an IBR is not to devolve into a review of the contractor’s EVMS and whether it complies with the EIA-748 Standard for EVMS guidelines. That said, the contractor must be able to demonstrate they have a disciplined project control system in place. The contractor should be able to demonstrate to the customer that the project’s scope of work is properly planned, scheduled, resourced, budgeted, authorized, and managed using their project control system.

Conducting an IBR contributes to successful project execution because it helps to ensure a realistic PMB has been established.

IBRs provide the opportunity for the contractor and customer to verify:

A realistic schedule and budget plan helps to prevent cost growth surprises because of technical, schedule, or budget challenges. The better the up-front planning, the less the likelihood of cost growth during project execution. It also increases credibility with the customer. The contractor can demonstrate their ability to deliver to the customer needs and manage the work effectively.

Establishing a project’s PMB is a significant and often formal event as it signals the transition from the planning to execution phase. It represents the culmination of the integrated planning, scheduling, budgeting, work authorization, and risk/opportunity management processes.

A common best practice is to conduct an internal baseline review regardless of whether a formal IBR with the customer is required prior to setting the PMB. Implementing a standard process to conduct an internal review of the complete set of project data and artifacts with the project personnel assures an executable schedule and budget plan has been established to accomplish the contractual scope of work within the contractual period of performance and negotiated contract cost in alignment with the contract’s funding profile.

These internal reviews help to ensure there is a common understanding of the scope of work, major project events, planned sequence of work, schedule of deliverables, resource requirements, time phased budget, funding profile, and project risks/opportunities. It also provides an opportunity to verify the quality of the integrated schedule and cost data as well as top down and bottom up traceability.

A common earned value consulting service H&A provides is conducting a mock IBR with project personnel to prepare for the formal customer IBR. The objective is to conduct a thorough assessment of the project’s PMB to verify it reflects the entire contractual scope of work and technical requirements as well as identified technical, schedule, cost, or resource risks that may impact the ability to execute the work as planned. This provides an opportunity to correct any issues with the PMB prior to the IBR event.

Another standard earned value consulting service we offer is conducting IBR training for project team members. H&A earned value consultants can help you to establish a standard internal process to verify an executable PMB is in place for a given project. Once again, the objective is to prevent cost growth surprises and management is aware of the project’s risks and opportunities that may impact profit margins.

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The purpose of an integrated baseline review is to:

In a DoD environment, an integrated baseline review is treated as a formal event and usually involves considerable preparation and follow-up. IBR practices vary across civilian agencies and are often less formal. Regardless, IBRs are generally recognized as a significant program management event and are a critical milestone for the success of the program and the relationship between the supplier and customer.Some agencies publish integrated baseline review guides to describe the process they use. Some examples are:

The National Defense Industry Association (NDIA) has published an IBR Guide which has been adopted by agencies such as the Department of Energy.While each agency and program office may have their own preferred approaches to an IBR, generally all IBRs will have the following components:Joint Integrated Baseline Review Team Training

Provided by the government program office or third-party facilitator prior to the IBR. This training helps the joint government and contractor team understand the process and expectations for the upcoming IBR.

Executive In-Brief

The on-site portion of the IBR kicks off with an executive in-brief. This in-brief is used to present the agenda, schedule, and logistics to the team. It is typically given jointly by the government and supplier program managers. The on-site portion of the IBR typically takes place over a three (3) to four (4) day period, depending on the size of the contract and the number of CAMs to be interviewed.

Program Team Discussions

The bulk of the IBR consists of discussions with the supplier's Master Schedulers, Control Account Managers (CAMs), Risk Managers, and other program team members responsible for program planning, scheduling, and budgeting activities. The following artifacts are typically reviewed during these discussions:

Some IBR teams may look at additional program artifacts, including EVMS processes and reports, to ensure the system is being set up and operated to provide good data. For some DoD contracts, DCMA may choose to participate in the IBR. While the IBR is focused on the Performance Measurement Baseline (PMB) and is not an EVMS compliance review, system problems identified during the IBR could pose a risk to the program and should be addressed.

Executive Out-Brief

The Executive Out-brief provides a preliminary list of findings and follow-on activities. It may be followed up with a formal Corrective Action Request (CAR) list for the supplier to address.

Follow-Up Activities

The supplier will respond to the CARs with a Corrective Action Plan (CAP). This describes activities the supplier will perform to fix the identified issues and a timeline for completion. The supplier will then work to execute the CAP.

IBR Closure

Once all corrective actions have been resolved, the government program office will formally notify the supplier of the IBR closure and schedule further IBRs if required.

It is important to understand that the IBR is a process, and not a single event. IBRs can and should be conducted throughout the life of a contract. Some events that could trigger an IBR are:

Below are a few guidelines that you should take into consideration while getting ready for an upcoming IBR. First we’ll talk about what an Integrated Baseline Review (IBR) is and then, equally importantly, what an IBR is not.

An IBR is a thorough evaluation of the Performance Measurement Baseline (PMB). It is:

Below is a list of items demonstrating what an IBR is not:

Now that we’ve established what an IBR is or is not, we’ll show the key objectives of the IBR in terms of what basic stakes in the ground are established during the IBR process.

The IBR importance is often underestimated by organizations that have not experienced one before or have never implemented an Earned Value Management System (EVMS). An IBR:

Next we’ll illustrate the elements to be reviewed in the IBR process and what aspects will be reviewed within each of them.

Each of the following elements is rigorously reviewed during the IBR process:

Confirm compliance with the following key business rules:

Finally, we’ll circle back and show what ultimate objectives of the above reviews are to provide to both the Customer and the Contractor in terms of the overall execution of the Contract.

Both the Customer and the Contractor should be in complete alignment regarding the following:

This should give a Contractor with an impending IBR some basic framework as to what the content of an IBR should be. While it is not the intention of this article to accommodate the level of detail that will be required in each of the above areas, it will hopefully give you some basic guidelines. In the event that any Contractor needs assistance in preparation for their respective IBR, specific considerations will need to be given to the type of Contract, the contracting agency and the Contractor’s prior experience in order to better scope the level of efforts required to be ready to proceed into the Integrated Baseline Review (IBR) process.