| name | federal-bca |
| description | Knowledge base from OMB Circular A-94 (revised 2023-11-09) on guidelines and discount rates for benefit-cost and cost-effectiveness analysis of federal programs. Use for BCA principles, benefit/cost measurement, discount-rate policy, uncertainty/sensitivity, distributional incidence, and decision reporting. Rescoped at build to A-94 only (Army CBA Guide unreachable). Does not replace A-11 budget preparation detail, agency-specific statutory BCA rules, or Army CEAC process templates. |
OMB Circular A-94 — Federal Benefit-Cost Analysis Guidelines
Source: OMB Circular A-94, revised Nov. 9, 2023 (US Government work, public domain) | Chapters: 6
When to use
Reach for this pack when designing or reviewing federal benefit-cost or cost-effectiveness analyses—especially discount-rate selection, baseline and opportunity-cost measurement, uncertainty/sensitivity, distributional incidence, and OMB-facing documentation quality for program or legislative decisions.
Prerequisites: none — plain Markdown; no MCP server, API key, or licence tier needed at runtime.
How to Use This Skill
- Without arguments — load the core frameworks below.
- With a topic — ask about NPV, real vs nominal rates, opportunity cost, sensitivity, incidence, or CEA vs BCA.
- With a chapter — ask for
ch01 through ch06.
Supporting files: glossary.md, patterns.md, cheatsheet.md.
Core Frameworks & Mental Models
Why A-94 exists
Promote social welfare via well-informed federal decisions. Provides general BCA/CEA guidance and specific discount-rate policy for time-distributed benefits and costs. Revised 2023; rescinds 1992 A-94.
Mandatory vs suggested
| Context | Force |
|---|
| Analyses to OMB under A-11 / A-19 / 1992 Presidential Memo estimates | Must follow |
| Internal Executive Branch planning | Suggested |
| Law / EO / other circulars prescribe methods | Those control |
Analysis spine
- Decision question + alternatives + baseline
- Identify/measure social benefits and costs (opportunity cost; transfers separated)
- Align inflation basis
- Discount with A-94 class-appropriate real/nominal rates
- Characterize uncertainty + sensitivity
- Report distributional incidence
- Document transparently for decision makers/OMB
BCA vs CEA
- BCA: Monetize benefits and costs → discounted net benefits / NPV
- CEA: When benefits fixed or not monetized → compare costs for effect (still discount correctly)
Pack scope note
Built as A-94 only after P7-PRE-2 dual-document gate: Army Cost Benefit Analysis Guide could not be retrieved (ASAFM host 403 from this environment). Do not expect Army CEAC step templates here.
Chapter Index
| # | Section | Key content |
|---|
| ch01 | Purpose, Scope, Principles | Goal, authority, mandatory use, BCA/CEA elements |
| ch02 | Benefits and Costs | Baseline, opportunity cost, inflation consistency |
| ch03 | Discount Rate Policy | Real/nominal rates, analysis classes, NPV |
| ch04 | Uncertainty | Expected values, sensitivity, explicit risk adjustments |
| ch05 | Distributional Effects | Groups, weights, economic incidence |
| ch06 | Reporting and Decision Use | OMB-grade documentation, limitations |
Topic Index
- Baseline / with-without → ch02
- BCA vs CEA → ch01, ch02
- Decision Analysis → ch04, ch06
- Discount rates (real/nominal) → ch03
- Distributional weights → ch05
- Economic incidence → ch05
- Expected value → ch04
- Inflation treatment → ch02, ch03
- Lease-purchase / asset sales rates → ch03
- Net present value (NPV) → ch03, ch06
- OMB A-11 / A-19 submissions → ch01, ch06
- Opportunity cost → ch02
- Opportunity cost / benefit identification → ch01, ch02, ch06
- Sensitivity analysis → ch04
- Social vs budget cost → ch02
- Transfers → ch02, ch05
- Uncertainty adjustments → ch04
Supporting Files
Scope & Limits
This pack covers OMB Circular A-94, revised November 9, 2023 (28 pages per extraction metadata) as synthesized reference notes on federal BCA/CEA guidelines and discount-rate policy.
Rescope (P7-PRE-2): Planned dual source was A-94 + US Army Cost Benefit Analysis Guide. The Army PDF was not retrievable (ASAFM 403 / Wayback 503 from the build environment). Per hard gate rules, the pack was rescoped to the surviving in-source-clean document (A-94) rather than generating Army content without evidence. Re-expand if the Army guide becomes fetchable.
It does not cover: full OMB Circular A-11 budget formulation; agency-specific statutory BCA regimes; private-sector CFA/WACC practice as a substitute for A-94; or Army CEAC process templates. US Government public domain work. No source-material download link is published.
