Sneak Preview: GAO Seeks Improved Evidence-Collaboration Efforts

(The following was excerpted from a recent article in the Federal Grants Management Handbook.) Although federal agencies have been developing plans to strengthen their evidence-building activities to ensure that federal programs — including grant programs — are achieving their intended results, some agencies should follow leading internal collaboration practices to improve on their efforts to collect, review and prioritize new evidence, according to a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in July issued initial guidance calling for federal agencies to assess data and evidence to determine program effectiveness and to better establish policy. It further requires agencies to appoint officers to oversee data management policy and resource allocation. Observations gleaned through such data and evidence analysis may help agencies better focus their resources and implement policies and regulations that can reduce risks and improve grant program performance.

The OMB policy stems from the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (Pub. L. 115-435), which became effective July 13 and required federal agencies to submit a plan to OMB and Congress that identifies evidence to support policymaking and that promotes the use of evidence. OMB, in turn, will consolidate these plans into a unified evidence-building effort.

“Evidence” is defined as “information produced as a result of statistical activities for a statistical purpose,” and some agencies have incorporated evidence-based approaches in their program design. For example, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is required to disburse funds under the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting program for home visiting models that show sufficient evidence of their effectiveness. HHS, in turn, annually assesses evidence under the program, such as the results of program evaluations, to identify effective home visiting models that other grant recipients can implement.

Congress recently requested that GAO assess the coordination of evidence-building activities within federal departments that may have multiple component agencies or offices that are responsible for generating different sources of evidence. GAO examined these efforts at the departments of Education (ED), HHS and Labor (DOL); the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS); and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). For example, at the DOL, several agencies amass such evidence — the Bureau of Labor Statistics collects statistical data, its Office of the Chief Evaluation Officer conducts program evaluations and its Performance Management Center develops performance information.

(The full version of this story has now been made available to all for a limited time here.)

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