The Department of Education's (Education's) Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) initiated the Next Gen program in 2017. Next Gen's purpose was to modernize the systems and processes that students, parents, borrowers, and school partners use to apply for, administer, and/or process federal student aid. This report examines: (1) the status of FSA's Next Gen program; (2) the extent to which FSA cost estimation guidance and the Next Gen program's cost and schedule estimates aligned with the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) best practices; and (3) the extent to which FSA implemented best IT practices on scope, system development quality, and stakeholder management for the school partnership project. GAO reviewed Next Gen program and project planning documentation, and evaluated the Next Gen program's cost and schedule estimates against GAO best practices. GAO also assessed the school partnership project against selected project management best practices.