The [US] Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a memo to federal agencies on Oct. 7 that outlines a new initiative to bring a renewed emphasis and additional resources for program evaluation within agencies. Although this initiative is not a comprehensive plan to reinvigorate performance measurement in the federal government, it will help correct many problems that kept previous performance systems from creating real improvement in government performance.
The memo is entitled “Increased Emphasis on Program Evaluations” and details a three-part plan to help agencies develop better systems to conduct “rigorous, independent program evaluations.” The plan includes giving better access to agency program evaluations on the Internet that are both in progress and planned for the future, re-launching an interagency working group on evaluations, and a voluntary pilot program to provide additional resources to fund rigorous program evaluations or strengthen evaluation capacity within agencies. Each of these three policy changes will help to improve performance evaluations within agencies and encourage better use of performance information.
