Guide
What is the DCMA 14-point assessment?
The DCMA 14-point assessment is a set of schedule-quality checks from the U.S. Defense Contract Management Agency. It tests a schedule's logic, relationships, constraints, float, durations, dates, resources, and progress against set thresholds. A failed check is a flag to investigate, not proof the schedule is wrong. Construction schedulers use it as a health check.
Where it comes from
The 14 metrics are described in DCMA's Earned Value Management System Program Analysis Pamphlet (DCMA-EA PAM 200.1). They were written for contractor integrated master schedules, but the checks apply to any CPM schedule, which is why construction schedulers use them on P6 schedules. The pamphlet says the analysis should exclude completed tasks, level-of-effort tasks, summary tasks, and milestones. It also says a red metric isn't failure by itself. It's a reason to dig deeper.
The 14 checks, in field language
| Check | What it measures | Threshold | What it means on the job |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Logic | Incomplete tasks missing a predecessor and/or successor | ≤ 5% | Open ends. Loose wires that break the critical path. |
| 2. Leads | Relationships with negative lag | 0 | Overlap hidden in a relationship instead of shown as real work. |
| 3. Lags | Relationships with positive lag | ≤ 5% | Waiting time built into links. Fine for cure time, bad for hiding work. |
| 4. Relationship types | Share of relationships that are finish-to-start | ≥ 90% FS | Too many SS/FF links make the path hard to follow. |
| 5. Hard constraints | Tasks with hard constraints (must start/finish on, start/finish no later than) | ≤ 5% | Forced dates that override the logic. |
| 6. High float | Incomplete tasks with total float over 44 working days | ≤ 5% | Usually missing successors, not real slack. |
| 7. Negative float | Incomplete tasks with total float below zero | 0 | The schedule already says you will miss a date. |
| 8. High duration | Incomplete tasks with baseline duration over 44 working days | ≤ 5% | Activities too big to manage or status honestly. |
| 9. Invalid dates | Forecast dates before the data date, or actual dates after it | 0 | Status mistakes. History in the future or forecasts in the past. |
| 10. Resources | Whether tasks have resources or cost loaded | No fixed threshold | Matters when the contract requires a loaded schedule. |
| 11. Missed tasks | Tasks that finished late or not at all against their baseline finish | ≤ 5% | How well the team is hitting the plan. |
| 12. Critical path test | Add a large delay to a critical task and confirm the finish slips by the same amount | Must pass | Proves the critical path is truly connected. |
| 13. CPLI | Critical Path Length Index | ≥ 0.95 | How realistic it is to hit the finish date with the float that is left. |
| 14. BEI | Baseline Execution Index: tasks completed vs. tasks that should be complete by now | ≥ 0.95 | Throughput against the baseline. |
Thresholds are from DCMA-EA PAM 200.1 section 4. “44 working days” is roughly two months of work.
How I use it
Run it every update, not just at the baseline. Look at the trend: a schedule that goes from 2% open ends to 9% in two months is telling you something about how it's being maintained. Then fix the cause, not the number. Deleting a constraint to pass check 5 doesn't help if the logic underneath is still wrong.
Some checks can't be computed from every file. CPLI, BEI, and missed tasks need a baseline and progress. When we ran our Raziel demo on an anonymized public sample P6 file, 7 checks passed, 3 failed, 1 was a warning, and 3 couldn't be computed from the data in that file.
Related reading
The U.S. GAO's Schedule Assessment Guide covers the broader best practices behind a reliable schedule, including validating the critical path and keeping float reasonable. For the basics, see the critical path method in plain English.
Common questions
Is the DCMA 14-point assessment required on construction projects?
Only if your contract or owner requires it. It started in U.S. defense contracting, but many construction schedulers and owners use it as a common schedule health check.
Does failing a DCMA check mean the schedule is bad?
No. DCMA's own pamphlet says a red metric is a reason to investigate, not automatic failure. Some flags have good explanations. You should be able to give them.
Can I run the DCMA checks on a P6 schedule?
Yes. Several schedule analysis tools run them against P6 data, and you can work most of them out from a P6 export by hand. Raziel runs them on a P6 XER file.
Keep going
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