On a Corps of Engineers construction contract, the project schedule is governed by one section of the specifications: UFGS 01 32 01.00 10, Project Schedule. It sets what the schedule must contain, how it must be built in Primavera P6, how it is coded for the Corps' Resident Management System (RMS), and how it is updated each month. It also says what happens when it is not followed, in paragraph 3.2.3:
Failure to meet the requirements of this specification may result in the disapproval of the preliminary, initial, or periodic schedule updates and subsequent rejection of payment requests until compliance is met.
There is no official checklist for this section. The Whole Building Design Guide publishes review checklists for the Navy's scheduling section, and none for the Corps'. So we built one: every requirement in the current edition, with the paragraph it comes from, listed in the order you would check a file.
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Which edition this covers
This checklist follows the edition of UFGS 01 32 01.00 10 dated August 2026, which superseded the February 2023 edition. Unified Facilities Guide Specifications are revised several times a year, and a contract is governed by the edition bound into it, not the newest one. Check the date on the section in your contract before relying on any paragraph number below.
The banner at the top of every UFGS section names USACE, NAVFAC and AFCEC together. The Preparing Activity line beneath it says whose section this is: the Corps'. The Navy's own scheduling section is UFGS 01 32 17.00 20, a different document with different requirements.
What the section covers
72 requirements · 15 parts of the section · every one with its paragraph
Two groups are almost entirely mechanical: the SDEF activity codes in paragraph 3.3.7 and the Primavera P6 settings in paragraph 3.12. Each is a code, a value or a setting. Both are settled in P6 before the file is exported, and both are easy to get wrong when a schedule is copied from another job. The rest asks for judgement as well as data, from durations and logic to cost loading and the updates.
The checklist
| Paragraph | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Software version | |
2.1.2.1 | P6 export version not newer than the Government's |
| Payment | |
3.2.3 | Withholding and payment rejection exposure |
| Cost loading | |
3.2 | Cost loading balances to the contract line items |
3.2.1 | No negative cost loading |
3.2.1 | No front-end loading |
3.2.2 | Submittal activities carry no cost |
3.3.20 | Punch list correction cost-loaded at 1 percent minimum |
3.3.20.1 | As-built drawings cost loading floor |
3.3.20.2 | O&M manuals cost loading floor |
| Activity durations | |
3.3.15 | Original duration changes require approval |
3.3.19 | Remaining duration of unstarted activities |
3.3.2 | Activity duration ceiling |
3.3.2 | Activity calendar-day span |
3.3.2 / 3.3.10 | Curing and acceptance periods |
| Schedule content | |
3.3.3 | Design and permit activities present |
3.3.4 | Procurement activities present |
3.3.5 | Mandatory activities present |
3.3.6 | Government activities shown |
3.4.2 | The sequence of activities is reasonable and realistic |
| SDEF activity codes | |
3.3.7 | SDEF coding dictionary present |
3.3.7 / ER 1-1-11 App A | SDEF export viability |
3.3.7 / ER 1-1-11 App A | Unit Cost Record viability |
3.3.7.1 | Workers Per Day (WRKP) assigned |
3.3.7.2 | Responsible Party (RESP) assigned |
3.3.7.3 | Area of Work (AREA) assigned |
3.3.7.4 | Modification Number (MODF) usage |
3.3.7.5 | Bid Item (BIDI / CLIN) assigned |
3.3.7.5 | Every BIDI value is a CLIN that exists in the contract |
3.3.7.6 | Phase of Work (PHAS) assigned |
3.3.7.7 | Category of Work (CATW) assigned |
3.3.7.8 | Feature of Work (FOW) assigned |
ER 1-1-11 App A, ACTV note (2) | Activity ID must be numeric, max 10 digits |
ER 1-1-11 App A, ACTV note (3) | Activity description maximum 30 characters |
ER 1-1-11 App A, ACTV note (6) | Only ES and LF constraints survive SDEF export |
| Constraints | |
3.3.8 | Artificial float constraints prohibited |
3.3.8 | Mandatory constraints that override logic prohibited |
3.3.8 | No unauthorised constrained dates |
3.3.8.1 | Project start not earlier than NTP |
3.3.8.1 | NTP Acknowledged start milestone with Start On constraint |
3.3.8.2 | End Project finish milestone and float behaviour |
| Milestones | |
3.3.8.3 / 3.3.8.3.1 / 3.3.8.3.2 | Phase milestones and interim completion dates |
| Calendars | |
3.3.10 | Calendars developed and assigned appropriately |
3.3.10 | Working days, weekends and holidays |
3.3.9 | Adverse weather accounted for |
| Logic and relationships | |
3.3.11 | Only two open-ended activities |
3.3.11 | Required relationship types on every activity |
3.3.16 | Leads (negative lags) prohibited |
3.3.16 | Start-to-Finish relationships prohibited |
3.3.16 | Lags not used to absorb or create float |
| Scheduling settings | |
3.3.17 | Retained logic required, progress override prohibited |
| Progress and updates | |
3.3.12 | Default progress data disallowed |
3.3.12 | Actual dates rewritten between updates |
3.3.13 | Out-of-sequence progress |
3.3.14 | Activities added, deleted, or renamed without approval |
3.3.18 | Percent complete reflects earned value |
3.9.1 | Artificially improving progress |
| Submittals | |
3.3.21 | Early completion schedule must be fully resource loaded |
3.4.1 | Preliminary schedule scope and cost balance |
3.4.2 | Initial schedule submitted on time and covering the full contract |
3.5.1 | File identifies its schedule type, contract number and data date |
| Primavera P6 settings (3.12) | |
3.12.a | Activity codes defined at project level |
3.12.b | Calendars defined at project level |
3.12.c | Activity duration type is Fixed Duration and Units |
3.12.d | Percent complete type is Physical |
3.12.e | Calendar work hours per day is 8.0 |
3.12.f | Critical activities defined by Longest Path |
3.12.h | Cost loading through one lump-sum non-labor resource |
3.12.i | Activity IDs do not exceed 10 characters |
3.12.j | Activity names have a verb-noun structure |
3.12.k | All work calendars end the day at the same hour |
| QC reports and RMS | |
3.3.12 | Actual dates must match the Daily QC Reports |
QCS Manual 2.38 / Prime Contractor | Prime contractor responsibility code is PRIM |
Download the checklist as a spreadsheet (CSV)
The download carries one row per requirement, with the paragraph, the requirement and the sentence from the specification it rests on. It opens in Excel.
The settings to check in P6 before you export
Paragraph 3.12 is a list of Primavera P6 settings, and it is the quickest part of the section to get right because each item is a single value. Among them:
| Paragraph | The setting the section requires |
|---|---|
| 3.12.c | "Activity Duration Types must be set to "Fixed Duration & Units"." |
| 3.12.d | "Percent Complete Types must be set to "Physical"." |
| 3.12.e | Time period preferences at the default "8.0 hr/day, 40 hr/week, 172 hr/month, 2000 hr/year", and calendar work hours per day at 8.0 |
| 3.12.f | "Set Schedule Option for defining Critical Activities to "Longest Path"." |
| 3.12.i | "Activity ID's must not exceed 10 characters." |
Paragraph 2.1.2.1 adds one more that is easy to miss: export the .xer "in a version of P6 no newer than that used by the Government." A file saved from a newer P6 than the Government's will not open on their side, however good the schedule is.
Two requirements the file cannot prove
Some requirements can only be checked against documents outside the schedule. Two matter more than the rest.
Actual dates must match the daily QC reports. Paragraph 3.3.12: "Activity Actual Start (AS) and Actual Finish (AF) dates assigned during the updating process must match those dates provided in the Contractor Quality Control Reports. Failure to document the AS and AF dates in the Daily Quality Control report will result in disapproval of the Contractor's schedule." No tool can check this from the .xer. Reconcile the actual dates with your QC reports before each update.
Cost loading must balance to the contract line items. Paragraph 3.2 ties the schedule's cost to the contract's line items (CLINs). The schedule file holds what you distributed across activities, not what the contract is worth, so the balance can only be checked with the contract value in hand.
What is changing in fiscal year 2027
Two changes affect how a Corps schedule reaches the Government.
RMS is being replaced. The guide specification for the Resident Management System, UFGS 01 45 00.15 10 (Change 1, August 2026), carries this note: "During FY 2027, RMS will be transitioning to the Construction Management Platform (CMP). Districts will be transitioned in phases." Fiscal year 2027 began on 1 October 2026. Until a district has moved, its projects must include both the RMS section and the new CMP section, 01 45 00.25 10.
SDEF is no longer the only way in. RMS has accepted P6 XML imports since patch 444 (October 2023) and lists XER in the same import screen since patch 588 (January 2026). The SDEF activity code structure in 3.3.7 is still mandatory: "This exact structure is mandatory." What may change is which problems in the file only matter on the SDEF route. We cover the routes in SDEF, P6 XML or XER.
Frequently asked questions
What is UFGS 01 32 01.00 10?
The Project Schedule section of the Unified Facilities Guide Specifications, prepared by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It sets the requirements for the contractor's CPM schedule on a Corps construction contract: content, P6 settings, SDEF activity codes, cost loading, updates and submittals.
How long can an activity be in a USACE schedule?
Paragraph 3.3.2 limits non-procurement activities to an original duration of 20 workdays or 30 calendar days. Procurement activities, as paragraph 3.3.4 defines them, are not covered by that limit.
Can USACE withhold payment for the schedule?
Yes. Paragraph 3.2.3 says that failure to meet the section may result in disapproval of the schedule and rejection of payment requests until compliance is met, and that the Contracting Officer may withhold 10 percent of the pay request amount until directed revisions are made.
Does the Navy use the same scheduling section?
No. The joint banner on every UFGS section names USACE, NAVFAC and AFCEC, but NAVFAC's scheduling section is UFGS 01 32 17.00 20, a separate document with its own requirements.
Is there an official USACE schedule review checklist?
Not for UFGS 01 32 01.00 10. The Whole Building Design Guide publishes baseline and monthly update review checklists for the Navy's section 01 32 17.00 20. The checklist on this page is derived from the Corps' section itself, paragraph by paragraph.
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Sources
- Unified Facilities Guide Specifications, UFGS 01 32 01.00 10 Project Schedule, August 2026 edition — Whole Building Design Guide.
- UFGS 01 45 00.15 10 Resident Management System (RMS), November 2023, Change 1 August 2026 — the note on the transition to CMP.
- USACE ER 1-1-11, Appendix A — the Standard Data Exchange Format (SDEF).
- Whole Building Design Guide, review checklists published for UFGS 01 32 17.00 20 (NAVFAC).
This checklist is an automated reading of published specification text, not a review of your contract. The section bound into your contract, and any amendment to it, governs.