An Estimate to Complete (ETC) is the estimated amount of funding required to complete the current contract or IAA period from the date of the last invoice submitted by the contractor. ETCs provide valuable spend information for Project Managers (PMs), Spend Managers, and Contracting Officer’s Representatives (CORs).
The ETC is best provided by the Contractor or Service Provider since they are primarily responsible for delivery. The ETC information should include:
By comparing the ETC amount to the remaining obligated funds, PM, Spend Managers and CORs can identify where additional funding is needed and where extra funding could be reallocated to other projects.
ETCs should be updated periodically so the PMs, Spend Managers, and CORs can see changes in funding requirements over time and investigate the cause of any changes. PM, Spend Managers, and CORs can use ETCs to identify where additional funding is needed and where there may be extra funding that could be reallocated to other projects – with enough time to make those changes.
ETCs allow you to manage your spend more proactively till the end of the period – rather than relying solely on Burn Rates which don’t anticipate your future spend rate. To optimize your spend management, start requiring periodic ETC from your contractors and service providers!