Improving the Accuracy of Early Cost Estimates for Federal Construction Projects

Committee on Budget Estimating Techniques, Building Research Board, National Research Council

• 1 Front Matter; 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY; 3 INTRODUCTION; 4 FACTORS OTHER THAN ESTIMATES THAT CONTRIBUTE TO BUDGET-RELATED PROBLEMS; 5 PROCEDURES CURRENTLY USED BY FEDERAL AGENCIES TO PREPARE EARLY ESTIMATES; 6 SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVING THE EARLY ESTIMATING PROCEDURES FOR FEDERAL AGENCIES; 7 Appendices; 8 Appendix A: The Views of Agency Representatives on the Nature and Causes of Budget-Related Problems in Federal Construction Programs; 9 Appendix B: The Construction Budget Preparation Process at the Naval Facilities Engineering Command; 10 Appendix C: The Construction Budget Preparation Process at IBM Corporation; 11 Appendix D: Current Procedures for Preparing Early Estimates; 12 Appendix E: Glossary of Estimating Terms Used by Federal Agencies; 13 References