EVM to avoid KKN

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