Federal Manager's Daily Report

Among the goals of the Trump administration’s government reorganization plan that could be carried out administratively is to “require a change in federal agencies’ cultures and standard operating procedures so that program evaluation is integrated into program design, and evaluation experts are part of decision-making processes.”

“We must increase the capacity of federal agencies to conduct evaluation and fill a critical gap in the federal government’s ability to generate evidence about what works and how we can improve programs. This will lead to more and better information that the Congress and the President can use to make decisions about how to best spend taxpayer dollars and provide services for our citizens,” it says.

The plan says that “at a minimum,” OMB will instruct agencies to: designate a senior official responsible for coordinating the agency’s evaluation activities, learning agenda, and information reported to OMB on evidence; and document the resources dedicated to program evaluation.

Further, OMB will provide guidance and set expectations for agencies to strengthen the quality of the information provided to OMB on program evaluation as part of the annual budget process; and establish agendas to strategically plan evaluation and other evidence-building activities over a multi-year period.

It adds: “We acknowledge the potential risk that establishing a more formal structure for federal evaluation could introduce administrative rigidity and complexity in ways that may detract from innovation in the small number of agencies already excelling in this area. During implementation, however, we could mitigate this risk by allowing appropriate flexibility, recognizing the unique circumstances and capacities of various agencies, and soliciting input from stakeholders both inside and outside of the federal government.”