Texas Advanced Computing Center, University of Texas at Austin, NSF Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction
When the United States set out to build the most powerful academic supercomputer ever dedicated to open scientific research, it turned to the Texas Advanced Computing Center. The NSF Leadership-Class Computing Facility would deploy Horizon, a machine delivering 10 times the simulation performance of its predecessor and more than 100 times the AI capability, supporting thousands of researchers across every scientific discipline imaginable. At $457 million, it is one of the most ambitious computing investments in the history of American science. A project of that scale and consequence requires more than world-class engineers. It requires project controls that are not optional, that must align with the ambition of the mission, so the team can stay focused on what matters most, building the future of open scientific computing.
TACC had worked with NSF for decades and had built some of the most powerful supercomputers in the world. But the LCCF was the first project to carry an NSF earned value management requirement, which meant that for all their experience, the team was navigating new terrain. Dash360 was engaged early, supporting the project through its Conceptual Design Review, Preliminary Design Review, and Final Design Review, building a Project Management Controls System (PMCS) and earned value foundation alongside one of the most capable project teams in the business.
The LCCF team was not a group of people learning project management. They were veterans who had done this before, a highly cohesive team that had built supercomputers together over many years. What was new was EVM, and that distinction mattered. Six Control Account Managers came into MREFC construction phase having only recently receiving their accounting charge codes, operating under an earned value framework for the first time, on a project where the schedule developed at Final Design Review had been sitting on the shelf for 18 months while NSF and an independent cost review team completed their processes, a period of minimal team activity before formal construction approval finally arrived.
The timing of what came next made an already demanding situation more so. Just two months into construction, NSF enlisted an external panel review team to review and verify the LCCF Earned Value Management System. A five-person team spent three days on-site reviewing documentation, interrogating processes, and interviewing CAMs who had barely begun executing their scope. By any reasonable measure, it was early. A system designed to be assessed on months of mature performance data was being evaluated on weeks of it. The better question was not whether the EVMS was functioning, it was whether the foundation was sound enough to sustain what was coming.
It was.
The review team, operating against all 32 guidelines of the EIA-748-D standard, found zero corrective action requests. Fourteen improvement opportunities were noted, all non-critical, most addressing minor documentation inconsistencies the team was already aware of and could respond to. The reviewers noted that Dash360 served as the primary database hub for the project, integrating cost, schedule, earned value, change control, risk, and enterprise reporting in a single system, providing data traceability consistent with GAO best practices. CAM interviews confirmed that processes were in place and the team understood how to execute within them.
In January 2025, NSF’s Research Infrastructure Office issued its formal Notice of Acceptance of the LCCF Earned Value Management System, concluding that the EVMS met the intent of the EIA-748-D standard, had been effectively implemented, and would provide reliable earned value data through the construction stage. It was the first EVM acceptance in TACC’s history. All three major reviews across the project went equally well.
What set the LCCF apart was preparation. Dash360 was engaged from the beginning, and during the Final Design phase the team piloted the earned value system at small scale, stress-testing the processes and establishing the culture that would carry the project into construction. When the verification review arrived two months in, the foundation was already there.
Horizon is on its way. The Project Management Controls System supporting its construction has been operating for two years, performing exactly as designed, and the project remains on schedule. When Horizon comes online and opens a new frontier of scientific discovery, and with respect to the PMCS few will think about what it took to get there. That is exactly how it should be.
