Chapter 8

PROJECT MANAGEMENT COMPETENCIES AND SKILLS

The federal workforce is changing. Numerous surveys and assessments conducted by OMB, GAO, and individual agencies in cooperation with industry have shown that project management, and in particular the skills associated with being a successful project manager, are critical to agencies achieving their missions.² The practice and discipline of project management has been institutionalized on the defense side of the federal government for years. The Defense Acquisition University (DAU) and the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) certification in a variety of project and program management-related areas are clear examples of this commitment to the development of project management skills and competencies. In the past few years, the practice and discipline of project management have been expanding by leaps and bounds across the civilian side of the federal government as well.

OMB and a growing number of agencies have recognized and begun to realize the benefits of a formal approach to building and maintaining project management competencies and skills as part of their goals to improve the quality and success rate of projects in the federal government. Nonetheless, recent studies indicate that formal training lags behind the increased demand for, and the responsibility and accountability of, project managers. A joint study commissioned by OMB and the Council for Excellence in Government, for example, found that up to half of the project managers surveyed had not received training in critical project management areas. Most who had received training rated it “moderately” to “highly” valuable.³

The emergence of project management as a core competency in the federal government signals a shift in the career paths and opportunities for government personnel. Agencies across the government are establishing programs to identify, train, and certify individuals as project managers. OMB has further confirmed the arrival of project management on the federal scene with the development and implementation of the federal acquisition certification for program and project managers (FAC-P/PM), which requires agencies to train and develop program and project managers. Agencies that have already started down the project management path are now working to comply with this standard, while others with less mature project management capability must build programs to meet the FAC-P/PM requirements.

WHAT ARE THE CRITICAL SKILLS?

Although the emphasis differs from agency to agency, most successful federal project managers share a fairly consistent set of skills. Project management in the federal government is moving beyond what are commonly thought of as “traditional” skills. Many organizations are focusing on a more comprehensive set of skills and competencies, including core project management skills, communication skills, emerging project management skills, and subject matter expertise. Table 8-1 compares the skills in these categories with traditional project management skills.

Every two years, the federal CIO Council updates the core competencies associated with the Clinger-Cohen Act. In addition to the core project management competencies, the list includes emerging competency areas like leadership, change management, and performance assessment that require skills not normally found in project managers who rise through the technology ranks in the federal government. The emphasis on these Clinger-Cohen competencies further suggests that successful federal project managers must expand their capabilities beyond their technical expertise.

CORE PROJECT MANAGEMENT SKILLS

The core set of skills needed for success as a project manager in a federal agency derives from the primary knowledge areas described in PMI’s A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK^® Guide).⁴

Leadership

Government project managers are increasingly relied on to fill a leadership role in their organization. As the primary person responsible for the use of an agency’s resources to achieve goals and introduce improvements to the organization, the project manager is increasingly being brought into the decision-making process to contribute to setting strategic direction, allocating resources, and defining goals.

The rising prominence of project managers (and project management overall) is evident in organizations where the PMO resides at the C-level (e.g., chief information officer, chief financial officer) in the organization. The PMO is actively involved in setting policy and providing guidance on executing projects.

Coordination

The increasing complexity of projects and the dispersion of tasks, resources, and stakeholders across organizations make coordination high on the list of key skills. The involvement of multiple stakeholders (federal, state, and local government representatives), execution of tasks across various disciplines (construction, contracting, security, real estate, and technology), and compliance with myriad regulations and standards make this skill critical to the effective execution of projects. Conducting formal project reviews at regular intervals, typically in conjunction with major project phases, can go a long way toward effective coordination on a project.

Supervision

Project management involves the supervision of resources to achieve the project’s outcomes. Strong project management practices provide a solid structure that project managers can rely on to ensure that their team gets the right tasks done right. One common challenge is the lack of supervisory experience among people thrust into the project manager role. In many agencies, project managers rise through technical career paths and have little if any experience supervising a team. To develop in their new role, they require greater guidance and support as “new” supervisors.

Risk Assessment/Management

Effective risk analysis is key to successful project planning. The results of this analysis should trigger changes to project plans or baselines, as well as the development of mitigation plans. Any adjustments to the project plan, schedule, work breakdown schedule, or budget in response to the risk assessment should be documented and communicated, especially to the executive sponsor and any oversight or guiding organizations. These stakeholders should be made aware of necessary changes to the project and their potential impacts—and asked to approve those changes. Early information on risk minimizes surprises later in the project.

Project Analysis and Requirements Definition

The effort involved in project analysis and requirements definition (which involve an iterative process that goes deeper and deeper to get to exact project needs) is universally underestimated. Project managers need to be able to link good analysis—business, technical, and economic—with project communications, understanding and conveying requirements from the customer’s perspective. Thorough planning should be conducted at the front end of the project, and all key stakeholders should vet the resulting plans.

Contractor Management

Managing contractors is a critical skill in agencies where outsourcing is prevalent. Successful project managers integrate contractor personnel fully into their project teams. The choice of contract type can assist in effective contractor management and thereby contribute to project success. Many agencies favor the use of cost-plus award or incentive fee (CPAF or CPIF) contracts, which promote efficient execution by contractors to meet established performance goals.

Stakeholder Management

Project managers must work within and across multiple groups of stakeholders who may control or influence funding, personnel, key resources, legislation or regulation, and decision-making authority.

Schedule, Scope, and Change Management

The criticality of the fundamental skills associated with managing the project schedule and scope is common across organizations and projects. In addition, throughout a project’s lifecycle, the project manager must continuously identify, assess, and manage the impacts of changes, answering the question, “If this change occurs, what impact will it have on the project scope, schedule, budget, and requirements?” Formal change processes enable project managers to clearly communicate the facts of potential impacts to the relevant stakeholders, limiting the emotion associated with altering anticipated outcomes.

Lessons Learned

Although most organizations identify gathering lessons learned as a critical skill, few take the appropriate time to perform the function.

Financial Analysis and Budgeting

Frequent budgetary fluctuations increase the challenges of managing projects in the federal government. The fiscal crisis is compounding the ever-present stress on project managers to deliver projects with limited financial resources. The need to be efficient with taxpayers’ money, particularly in the current fiscal environment, has increased the need for project managers to have strong financial analysis and budgeting skills. Among the key skills needed are the following:

   •   Budget forecasting and financial projections. At a minimum, project managers in the federal government should be adept at building a cost estimate that takes into consideration the budgetary and spending cycles and presents a “total ownership cost” figure.

   •   Financial and economic analysis. An understanding of the internal and external conditions that will influence the project is critical for project managers.

   •   Budget control/cost management. Project managers must be able to use tools and methodologies, such as earned value, that can enhance cost control over their projects. They need to have adequate experience, exposure, and training in financial analysis and measurement to support their responsibility to report project performance accurately.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Communication skills are universally recognized as essential for successful project managers. Because communication is the foundation for virtually all project management activities, some have even suggested that if a person lacks innate communication skills, he or she should be dissuaded from pursuing the project management career path. Several key aspects of communication skills are critical to project management success:

   •   Information sharing. In the absence of information, people will fill the void with assumptions, guesses, and their own biases. The project manager’s ability to communicate effectively (both providing and receiving information) with key stakeholders and constituencies is a critical success factor on most projects. Key to successful communication is the ability to ask the right questions.

   •   Engaging executives. A primary role of the project manager is to protect the project—its funding, resources, scope, and schedule. Communicating effectively with executives is critical to ensuring project progress. To that end, project managers must engage executives to obtain agreement, support, guidance, and decisions. Those who successfully communicate with executives establish clear expectations at the outset of a project. They ask executives their preferred method, timing, and content of communication throughout the project and also outline the project’s needs and expectations in terms of communication with the executive.

   •   Negotiation. Negotiation is the process whereby two or more parties with different needs and desired outcomes work to find a mutually acceptable solution. Since negotiating is an interpersonal process, each negotiating situation is different, influenced by each party’s skills, attitudes, and style. People often regard negotiating as unpleasant because it suggests conflict. Understanding more about the process enables project managers to conduct negotiations with confidence and increases the likelihood that the outcomes will be positive for both parties.
For organizations where most project staff is contracted, negotiation is a very practical project management skill, allowing the government to obtain the needed resources for the best price. On a more operational level, project managers spend most of their day negotiating—with other project managers to obtain resources, with executives to obtain approvals, with team members on tasks and schedules, and with vendors on pricing.
Communicating Clearly. The most carefully thought-out communication plan and the best communication methods and tools will be worthless if the message is not clear. The project manager’s goals are to understand and to be understood. To achieve these dual goals, the project manager must have the ability to communicate (in person and in writing) from the perspective of the project’s constituents and stakeholder groups (e.g., IT, construction, budgets, contracts). This skill can be particularly challenging for project managers who come from technical areas, where writing clearly and succinctly may not have been as valued a skill.

   •   Teaching and mentoring. The ability to teach or mentor is an important skill that project managers must possess to support their projects. Regardless of their project management maturity level, most organizations rely on experienced project managers to teach and mentor rising project managers, team members, and even executives on project management practices and value. In some cases, the project manager provides “just-in-time” training on project management tasks and technical project elements.

SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTISE

The importance of a project manager’s expertise in the project’s “subject” depends on many factors, including the organization, the individual, the project team, and the project’s level of complexity (see Figure 8-1).

FAC-P/PM PROGRAM

In 2007 OMB launched the federal acquisition certification for program and project managers (FAC-P/PM). The certification is required for program and project managers that are assigned to major acquisitions. The model comprises seven competencies: ⁵

1.    Requirements development and management process

2.    System engineering

3.    Test and evaluation

4.    Lifecycle logistics

5.    Acquisition/contracting

6.    Business financial management

7.    Leadership/professional.

Performance outcomes are defined for each FAC-P/PM competency at all three levels of certification. These include task descriptions of what a program or project manager must be able to perform in order to demonstrate competence and excel in the program and project manager career field. For example, a seniorlevel performance outcome for the first competency (requirements development and management process) is to “synthesize the efforts and output of functionally oriented product/process teams in preparation for and execution of milestone and stakeholder reviews of the program.”⁶

Although the FAC-P/PM certification is clearly acquisition-oriented, it is generally related to industry standards for project management skills, particularly those promoted by PMI (see Table 8-2). In fact, FAI has a “letter of understanding” with PMI to accept the CAPM^® and PMP^® credentials as satisfying the coursework areas and experience for the entry/apprentice and mid/journeyman levels of the FAC-P/PM.

TABLE 8-2 FAC-P/PM Levels and Skills11
Project Manager Entry/Apprentice	Program/Project Manager Mid/Journeyman	Program Manager Senior/Expert
•  Knowledge and skills to perform as a team member and manage low-risk and relatively simple projects with supervision	•  Knowledge and skills to manage program/project segments of low to moderate risk with little or no supervision	•  Knowledge and skills to manage and evaluate moderate to high-risk programs or projects and create an environment for program success
•  Overall understanding of project management practices, including acquisition	•  Ability to apply project management processes, including requirements and acquisition	•  Ability to manage and evaluate the requirements development process, overseeing junior team members
•  Ability to develop project management documents with supervision	•  Ability to identify and track action to initiate an acquisition program/project using cost/benefit analysis	•  Ability to use, manage, and evaluate management processes and techniques
•  Knowledge of and involvement in the project requirements process	•  Ability to support baseline reviews and total ownership cost estimates	•  Ability to manage and evaluate the use of earned value management as it relates to acquisition investments

Certification under FAC-P/PM is purposely not centralized, in recognition of the “local” characteristics at the department and agency levels. Each agency is responsible for implementing a program that complies with the FAC-P/PM requirements, providing the necessary training, work experience, and skill development for its project managers.

Organizations that are ready to implement FAC-P/PM tend to have the following characteristics:

   •   Understand their workforce, their capabilities, and relevant skills

   •   Can identify personnel who are eligible to be certified

   •   Have a reasonably mature acquisition function

   •   Communicate and collaborate with their organization’s acquisition personnel

   •   Can effectively manage the certified workforce after implementation.

For agencies that do not have formal project management structures, standards, or training, and where acquisitions are not the normal course of business, meeting OMB’s goals for FAC-P/PM will be a greater challenge.

COMPETENCY DEVELOPMENT

Improving project management requires a commitment by the organization and its leaders to provide both formal and informal opportunities to increase the skills and knowledge of project managers. Some agencies have comprehensive training programs that integrate practical experience with skills and knowledge, leading toward internal project management certification. These programs include core courses, electives, and continuing education. Other approaches include contracting with external vendors to provide training or combining informal internal training with outside educational activities.

For organizations that do not have a formal training or certification program, an informal approach to delivering training may be the best course to gain the executive support needed to implement a more formal program. Ideas for building momentum in the development of an organization’s project management capabilities include four key areas:

   •   Training

   •   Coaching and mentoring

   •   On-the-job or just-in-time training

   •   Knowledge sharing.

The need for highly trained and certified project managers is increasing. As a project manager in your organization, you should endeavor to expand your knowledge and complement your experience with new, relevant skills, including seeking certification via your organization, PMI, or a master’s degree program. Seek out and participate in relevant communities of practice, both face-to-face and online. Promote formal and information skill development in your organization; where the structures or activities do not exist, take the lead in establishing methods for improving project management skills.

The emergence of new skills that integrate with traditional skills will place increasing demands on federal project managers to adjust and adapt to new project environments. Acquiring and honing these skills will differentiate successful project managers and projects throughout the federal government.

NOTE

1.    Statement of James A. Rispoli, Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management, U.S. Department of Energy, before the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, Committee on Armed Services, U.S. House of Representatives, March 1, 2006.

2.    Many GAO assessments and reports include references to management or project management practices. See GAO-08-1051T for several relevant citations in the information technology arena. Also, see the survey on project management skills, “The Council for Excellence in Government Program Management Survey Data Report” (Vienna, VA: Management Concepts, 2008).

3.    “The Council for Excellence in Government Program Management Survey Data Report” (Vienna, VA: Management Concepts, 2008).

4.    A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK^® Guide), Fifth Edition (Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute, 2013).

5.    Federal Acquisition Institute, Certification FAC-P/PM, www.fai.gov/drupal/certification/program-and-project-managers-fac-ppm (accessed April 2013).

6.    FAC-P/PM Competency Model Draft Version 1.9, June 13, 2012, www.fai.gov/drupal/sites/default/files/FAC-PPM%20Competency%20Model-Draftv1_9_13-June-2012_PDF.pdf (accessed April 2013).