EVM to avoid KKN

As President of the Indonesia Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI), I am following-up on the Opinion article in The Jakarta Post on Nov. 29 entitled Take project management away from govt agencies by Robert J. Cochrane.

While we enthusiastically agree with Mr. Cochrane's position that the management of projects should be taken out of the hands of the government through independent outsourcing, there is a more proactive way to help prevent the significant "leakage" than relying on audits alone.

As a "Best Practice" and ANSI Standard, PMI Indonesia advocates requiring the use of Earned Value Management (EVM) for anyone wishing to do business with the government of Indonesia. EVM was first implemented by the U.S. government as Cost/Schedule Control System Criteria (CSCSC) circa 1967 by the U.S. Department of Defense, under DOD Instruction 7000.2.

In 1999, EVM was modernized and today is ANSI Standard/EIA 748. EVM was conceived as a means of uncovering fraudulent practices by contractors, such as charging US$200 for toilet seats and $300 for screwdrivers. However, the use has evolved into a proven method to measure and evaluate project performance. Just as EVM helped the U.S. government uncover fraudulent practices by contractors, implemented correctly, it will also help to expose corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN) practices on Indonesian projects, regardless of who is the perpetrator.

To support the need for suitably qualified professionals, PMI has developed an internationally recognized professional credentialing program known as the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.

While we agree with Mr. Cochrane that the management of government projects should be outsourced, and while we believe that audits play an important role, the use of EVM offers a more proactive solution that can and should be implemented at the same time as a total solution.

PAUL D. GIAMMALVO

President

PMI Indonesia Chapter

Jakarta