On 24 July 2026 PMI opened the ANSI public comment period on the fifth edition of The Standard for Portfolio Management. Separately, ISO published two documents this year that bear directly on portfolio steering: a new edition of the earned value standard and an entirely new text on post-closure evaluation. For a PMO, all three converge on the same question — measuring what the portfolio actually delivers, not what it consumed.
A public consultation open until 7 September
PMI is an ANSI-accredited standards developer. Its process requires two rounds of comment: a Draft Comment Period on the working draft, then a public comment known as BSR-8, run in parallel with review by the Standards Consensus Committee, a panel of independent volunteers that determines consensus.
The fifth edition of the portfolio management standard is at that second stage. The window runs from 24 July 2026, 8:00 AM EST, to 7 September 2026, 5:00 PM EST, through PMI’s public comment portal. Participation is open to anyone; membership is not required.
Three practical points if you intend to contribute. Each comment must be categorised as technical, editorial or general. Comments sent through any other channel receive no response. And comments reach the development team — volunteer practitioners — anonymised, with a reply to every submission.
On substance, PMI states that the fifth edition retains the principles of the fourth and updates the text for the way organisational strategy, governance and value delivery have moved. No publication date has been announced.
ISO 21508:2026 and ISO 21513:2026
ISO/TC 258, whose secretariat PMI administers on behalf of ANSI, published two standards in 2026.
ISO 21508:2026 is the second edition of the earned value management standard, replacing the 2018 edition. It sits alongside ISO 21512:2024, which covers implementation guidance.
ISO 21513:2026 is new: guidance on post-project and post-programme evaluation. Its scope is deliberately narrow. It addresses evaluation after closure — whether objectives were met, what outcomes actually occurred, which benefits were actually realised, whether those benefits are likely to hold, and how effective the governance and management proved to be. It covers setting, planning, organising and conducting those evaluations, including the role of reviewers.
What it excludes matters just as much: it does not apply to evaluations before a project starts, nor to reviews during delivery. It is not a replacement for your stage gates. It formalises the exercise most organisations skip — coming back six or twelve months after closure to check whether the benefits promised in the business case materialised.
Where each reference document sits
| Reference | Issuer | Subject | Status at 3 August 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| ISO 21504:2022 | ISO/TC 258 | Portfolio management | Published |
| ISO 21505:2017 | ISO/TC 258 | Governance | Published |
| ISO 21508:2026 | ISO/TC 258 | Earned value management (2nd ed.) | Published in 2026 |
| ISO 21512:2024 | ISO/TC 258 | EVM implementation guidance | Published |
| ISO 21513:2026 | ISO/TC 258 | Post-project and post-programme evaluation | Published in 2026 |
| The Standard for Portfolio Management, 5th ed. | PMI | Portfolio management | ANSI public comment until 7 September 2026 |
The two families are not substitutes. ISO offers generic guidance, applicable to any organisation whatever the delivery approach. PMI issues a more prescriptive standard, tied to a certification scheme — notably the Portfolio Management Professional. Organisations that use both tend to split the roles: ISO as the shared language with internal audit and the executive committee, PMI as the PMO’s operating reference.
What this changes for you
- Take a position on the consultation before 7 September 2026. If your PMO already applies PMI’s portfolio standard, this window is the only point at which your operational constraints can reach the text. After that date you will live with the published version for years.
- Set up a post-closure evaluation genuinely distinct from project reviews. ISO 21513:2026 gives you a ready structure. Fix the date in the business case itself — twelve months after go-live, for instance — and appoint a reviewer who did not run the project.
- Check the version of the earned value references in your internal procedures. If they still cite ISO 21508:2018, they point to a superseded edition. Internal audit will spot it before you do.
Helios Advisory designs portfolio governance and project delivery training paths for banking and insurance professionals: see our Transformation Project Governance page.
Sources
- PMI — About PMI Standards: ANSI BSR-8 comment period, The Standard for Portfolio Management, Fifth Edition (24 July to 7 September 2026)
- ISO/TC 258 — Published standards catalogue (ISO 21508:2026, ISO 21513:2026)
- ISO/TC 258 — ISO 21513:2026, post-project and post-programme evaluation
- EBA — Draft technical package 4.4, 24 July 2026
- ESMA — Authorisation of EuroCTP as CTP for shares and ETFs, 27 July 2026
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