A Government Accountability Office has reviewed the assessment process of 23 federal agencies for collecting and using evidence and found that most are having difficulties in understanding Office of Management and Budget guidance for conducting the assessments.
Agencies are required to assess aspects of their statistics, evaluation, research and analysis efforts every four years under the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 to improve the collection and use of evidence, such as data and the results of studies, that help federal decision-makers determine whether federal programs and activities are achieving intended results, GAO said Tuesday.
According to GAO’s report, agency officials face challenges in identifying appropriate approaches for conducting the activity and understanding how the assessments would be used.
The government watchdog pointed to the use of different methodologies at the agencies in assessing their evidence-building capacity as a cause of such difficulties.
To resolve the issues, GAO recommends that OMB leverage the Evaluation Officer Council responsible for sharing information and helping agencies with Evidence Act implementation to identify agency officials’ needs for additional guidance on capacity assessments and address them accordingly.
GAO also recommended identifying, documenting and sharing lessons learned on capacity assessment methods.
OMB neither agreed nor disagreed with the recommendations and stated that it would take them into consideration moving forward.