Sec. 101. Federal evidence-building activities
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Chapter 3 of part I of title 5, United States Code, is amended— before section 301, by inserting the following: ; and by adding at the end the following: In this subchapter: The term agency means an agency referred to under section 901(b) of title 31. The term Director means the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. The term evaluation means an assessment using systematic data collection and analysis of one or more programs, policies, and organizations intended to assess their effectiveness and efficiency.
The term evidence means evaluation, policy research and analysis, and information produced as a result of statistical activities conducted for a statistical purpose. The term State means each of the several States, the District of Columbia, each territory or possession of the United States, and each federally recognized Indian Tribe. The terms statistical activities , statistical agency or unit , and statistical purpose have the meanings given those terms in section 3561 of title 44.
Not later than the first Monday in February of each year, the head of each agency shall submit to the Director and Congress a systematic plan for identifying and addressing policy questions relevant to the programs, policies, and regulations of the agency. Such plan shall be made available on the public website of the agency and shall cover at least a 4-year period beginning with the first fiscal year following the fiscal year in which the plan is submitted and published and contain the following:
A list of policy-relevant questions for which the agency intends to develop evidence to support policymaking. A list of data the agency intends to collect, use, or acquire to facilitate the use of evidence in policymaking. A list of methods and analytical approaches that may be used to develop evidence to support policymaking. A list of any challenges to developing evidence to support policymaking, including any statutory or other restrictions to accessing relevant data. A description of the steps the agency will take to accomplish paragraphs
(1)and (2). Any other information as required by guidance issued by the Director. In developing the plan required under subsection (a), the head of an agency shall consult with the following: The public. Any evaluation or analysis unit and personnel of the agency. Agency officials responsible for implementing privacy policy. The Chief Data Officer of the agency. The officials of the agency designated under section 315. The Performance Improvement Officer of the agency. Program administrators of the agency. The committees of the House of Representatives and Senate with oversight jurisdiction over the agency. The Director shall consolidate the plans submitted under section 312 in a unified evidence-building plan. The Director shall notify agency heads of potentially overlapping or unnecessary duplicative data acquisition plans and facilitate interagency evidence gathering and sharing. The head of the agency may incorporate the results of any interagency coordination by updating the plan required under section 312. The Director shall incorporate any such agency update in the unified evidence-building plan. In developing the unified evidence-building plan required under paragraph (1), the Director shall consult with the following: The public. The Interagency Council on Evaluation Policy established under subsection (b). The Interagency Council on Statistical Policy established under section 3504(e)(8) of title 44. Any other relevant interagency council. The head of each agency. There is established an Interagency Council on Evaluation Policy (in this section referred to as the Council ) to advise and assist the Director in supporting Governmentwide evaluation activities and policies. The Council shall act as the principal interagency forum for coordinating cross-agency evaluation activities and improving agency practices related to program evaluation. The Council shall— advise and assist the Director in supporting Governmentwide evaluation activities and policies; foster capacity for program evaluation across agencies by collaborating on a set of Governmentwide human capital strategies that develop and maintain agencies’ capacity for program evaluation; advise on the development of department-wide evaluation policies and the systematic plans for identifying and addressing priority policy questions described in agency evidence-building plans under section 312; and serve as a forum in which members may engage in collective learning and sharing of information to strengthen and promote high-quality program evaluation practices across the Government. The members of the Council shall be the Chief Evaluation Officers appointed or designated under section 314. The Director shall designate a Chair of the Council. Additional members may be designated by the Chair. The Council shall meet not less than twice per fiscal year and may meet at the call of the Chair or a majority of the members of the Council. The head of each agency with a Chief Evaluation Officer serving on the Council shall, as appropriate and to the extent permitted by law, provide support in operating the Council, upon the request of the Chair. The Chair of the Council shall submit an annual report on the Council’s work under paragraph
(2)to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs of the Senate. The Director shall make such report publicly available online. Not later than four years after the date of the enactment of this subsection, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit a report to Congress on whether the Council improved the use of evidence and program evaluation in the Federal Government. The Council shall terminate and this subsection shall be repealed upon the expiration of the two-year period that begins on the date the Comptroller General of the United States submits the evaluation under subparagraph
(A)to Congress. The head of each agency shall appoint or designate an employee of the agency as the Chief Evaluation Officer of the agency. The Chief Evaluation Officer of an agency shall be appointed or designated without regard to political affiliation and based on demonstrated expertise in evaluation methodology, practices, and appropriate expertise to the disciplines of the agency. The Chief Evaluation Officer of an agency may not simultaneously serve as any of the following: The Chief Financial Officer of any agency. The Chief Information Officer of any agency. The Chief Human Capital Officer of any agency. The Chief Acquisition Officer of any agency. The Inspector General of any agency. The Chief Evaluation Officer of an agency shall, to the extent practicable, coordinate activities with agency officials, including the following: Agency officials responsible for implementing privacy policy regarding privacy and confidentiality issues. The Chief Data Officer of the agency. Agency officials designated under section 315. Any evaluation or analysis unit and personnel of the agency on the needs for evaluation and analysis. The Performance Improvement Officer of the agency. Program administrators of the agency. The Chief Evaluation Officers of other agencies. The Chief Evaluation Officer of each agency shall— continually assess the coverage, quality, methods, consistency, effectiveness, independence, and balance of the portfolio of evaluations, policy research, and ongoing evaluation activities of the agency; assess agency capacity to support the development and use of evaluation; establish and implement an agency evaluation policy; and coordinate, develop, and implement the plan required under section 312. The head of each agency shall designate the head of any statistical agency or unit within the agency, or in the case of an agency that does not have a statistical agency or unit, any senior agency official with appropriate expertise, as a statistical official to advise on statistical policy, techniques, and procedures. Agency officials engaged in statistical activities may consult with any such statistical official as necessary. Each statistical official designated under subsection
(a)shall serve as a member of the Interagency Council for Statistical Policy established under section 3504(e)(8) of title 44. The Director, or the head of an agency head designated by the Director, shall establish an Advisory Committee on Data for Evidence Building (in this section referred to as the Advisory Committee ) to review, analyze, and make recommendations on how to expand access to and use of Federal data for evidence building. The members of the Advisory Committee shall consist of the Chief Statistician of the United States, who shall serve as the Chair of the Advisory Committee, and other members appointed by the Director as follows: One member who is an agency Chief Information Officer. One member who is an agency Chief Privacy Officer. One member who is an agency Chief Performance Officer. Three members who are agency Chief Data Officers. Three members who are agency Chief Evaluation Officers. Three members who are members of the Interagency Council for Statistical Policy established under section 3504(e)(8) of title 44. At least 10 members who are representatives of State and local governments and nongovernmental stakeholders with expertise in government data policy, privacy, technology, transparency policy, evaluation and research methodologies, and other relevant subjects, of whom— at least one shall have expertise in transparency policy; at least one shall have expertise in privacy policy; at least one shall have expertise in statistical data use; at least one shall have expertise in information management; at least one shall have expertise in information technology; at least one shall be from the research and evaluation community; and if practicable, at least one shall be a former member of the Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking. Each member of the Advisory Committee (other than the Chair) shall serve for a term of two years. Any member appointed to fill a vacancy occurring before the expiration of the term for which the member’s predecessor was appointed shall be appointed only for the remainder of that term. A vacancy in the Commission shall be filled in the manner in which the original appointment was made. Members of the Advisory Committee shall serve without compensation. During the first year of the Advisory Committee, the Advisory Committee shall— assist the Director in carrying out the duties of the Director under part D of subchapter III of chapter 35 of title 44; and evaluate and provide recommendations to the Director on the establishment of a shared service to facilitate data sharing, enable data linkage, and develop privacy enhancing techniques, including— the specific capabilities, needs, and necessary assets of such service, and the extent to which assets should be transferred from existing agencies; any prospective location for such service; best practices for transparency and interagency coordination; best practices for monitoring and auditing of privacy, data linkage, and confidentiality of data accessed through such service; and necessary administrative and financial authorities to support the activities of such service. During the second and any subsequent year of the Advisory Committee, the Advisory Committee shall— if determined necessary by the Director, carry out the duties described in paragraph (1); and review the coordination of data sharing or availability for evidence building across all agencies. For each year of the existence of the Advisory Committee, the Advisory Committee shall submit to the Director and make publicly available an annual report on the activities and findings of the Advisory Committee. . The table of sections for chapter 3 of part I of title 5, United States Code, is amended— by inserting before the item relating to section 301 the following: SUBCHAPTER I—GENERAL PROVISIONS ; and by adding at the end the following: SUBCHAPTER II—FEDERAL EVIDENCE-BUILDING ACTIVITIES Sec. 311. Definitions. 312. Agency evidence-building plan. 313. Governmentwide evidence-building coordination. 314. Chief Evaluation Officers. 315. Statistical expertise. 316. Advisory Committee on Data for Evidence Building. . Section 306 of title 5, United States Code, is amended— in subsection (a)— in paragraph (7), by striking ; and at the end and inserting a semicolon; in paragraph (8), by— striking the period at the end; and inserting after to be conducted the following: , and citations to relevant provisions of the plan required under section 312; and ; and by adding at the end the following: an assessment of the coverage, quality, methods, effectiveness, and independence of the statistics, evaluation, research, and analysis efforts of the agency, including— a list of the activities and operations of the agency that are currently being evaluated and analyzed; the extent to which the evaluations, research, and analysis efforts and related activities of the agency support the needs of various divisions within the agency; the extent to which the evaluation research and analysis efforts and related activities of the agency address an appropriate balance between needs related to organizational learning, ongoing program management, performance management, strategic management, interagency and private sector coordination, internal and external oversight, and accountability; the extent to which the agency uses methods and combinations of methods that are appropriate to agency divisions and the corresponding research questions being addressed, including an appropriate combination of formative and summative evaluation research and analysis approaches; the extent to which evaluation and research capacity is present within the agency to include personnel and agency processes for planning and implementing evaluation activities, disseminating best practices and findings, and incorporating employee views and feedback; and the extent to which the agency has the capacity to assist agency staff and program offices to develop the capacity to use evaluation research and analysis approaches and data in the day-to-day operations. ; by redesignating subsection
(f)as subsection (g); and by inserting after subsection
(e)the following new subsection: Not later than two years after the date on which each strategic plan required under subsection
(a)is published, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to Congress a report that— summarizes agency findings and highlights trends in the assessment conducted pursuant to subsection (a)(9); and if appropriate, recommends actions to further improve agency capacity to use evaluation techniques and data to support evaluation efforts. .