Measured Mile Analysis

Measured mile analysis is a disruption analysis method that uses the Contractor's own productivity data on the same project as the baseline for what productive performance should look like. The analyst identifies a period of work that was not materially disrupted (the measured mile), calculates the productivity rate achieved during that period, and applies that rate to disrupted periods to quantify the productivity loss attributable to disruption.

The strength of measured mile is that it avoids the need for external benchmarks or theoretical productivity standards — it uses the same Contractor, the same scope, the same conditions as the disrupted work, and lets the actual achieved productivity establish what the work could have delivered absent the disruption. This makes it harder to challenge than methods based on industry-standard productivity rates or Contractor estimate assumptions.

The requirements are specific. There must be an identifiable undisrupted period of meaningful duration and similar scope to the disrupted period; productivity data must have been captured contemporaneously in both periods; and the analyst must be able to defend the comparability of the two periods against likely challenge. Where an undisrupted period cannot be identified — because the project was disrupted from the start — measured mile cannot be applied and alternative methods (industry benchmarks, earned value-based analysis) must be used instead.