GAO Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide, Best Practices for Developing and Managing Capital Program Costs, March 2009 [PDF 4.5 MB]
Developed to establish a consistent
methodology that is based on best practices and that can be used across the federal government for
developing, managing, and evaluating capital program cost estimates.
General Accounting Office Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide (March 2009)
The purpose of this document is to address generally accepted best practices for ensuring credible program cost estimates (applicable across government and industry) and to provide a detailed link between cost estimating and Earned Value Management (EVM). The basic information in the Cost Guide includes the purpose, scope and schedule of a cost estimate, a work breakdown structure; ground rules and assumptions; data collection and estimation methodologies; software cost estimating; sensitivity and risk analysis; EVM and the composition of a competent cost estimating team.
NHI Training for Addressing Uncertainty in Cost Estimating
The course provides participants with an overview of current cost estimating practices for highway projects, including consideration of risk and uncertainty in project cost estimates, and an appreciation of the importance of cost estimating.
Cost and Oversight of Major Highway and Bridge Projects - Issues and Options (2003) [PDF 731 KB]
This document contains the highlights of GAO-03-764T, a statement for the record for the Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury, and Independent Agencies, House Committee on Appropriations. This statement for the record summarizes cost and oversight issues raised in reports and testimonials that GAO has issued since 1995 on major highway and bridge projects and describes options that GAO has identified to enhance federal oversight of these projects.
"Underestimating Costs in Public Works Projects" Bent Flyvbjerg, Mette Skamris Holm, and Søren Buhl, Journal of the American Planning Association, Volume 68, Number 3, Summer 2002
