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THE AGENDA FUND
The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (aka the Evidence Act) directed federal agencies to appoint Chief Evaluation Officers and develop plans to evaluate the efficacy of their policies and programs. Implementing these planned evaluations will enable agencies to learn what is working and what isn’t, and to iterate towards more effective policies and programs. However, many agencies lack the internal capacity to execute these evaluations. Further, there currently exist few research partnerships between federal agencies and university-based researchers to support the execution of these planned evaluations.
One potential strategy to support agencies’ implementation of the Evidence Act may be to develop targeted funding opportunities designed to support research partnerships between federal agencies and university-based researchers. For example, the National Science Foundation’s GOALI program supports research collaborations between academic scientists and industry partners on projects that advance scientific and technological innovation. An analogous funding vehicle could support research collaborations between academic researchers and government agencies on projects that advance innovation in the delivery of public goods and services. Likewise, the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency deploys Federal Acquisition Regulations Part 35, Research and Development Contracting, to contract with university-based scientists on defense-related R&D. FAR Part 35 contracts could also be leveraged to support evaluations of the efficacy of agencies’ programs, policies, and investments. Similarly, the National Institutes of Health could potentially develop a funding opportunity to support evaluations of the efficacy of NIH investments.
Working with the 86 campuses in the SSRC’s College and University Fund for the Social Sciences, we are developing an initiative to support federal agencies’ implementation of the Evidence Act. The initiative is aimed at facilitating more R&D partnerships between university-based researchers and federal agencies to evaluate the efficacy of agencies’ policies and programs, and to iterate toward more effective policies and programs. By developing sources of funding support for these research partnerships, from both philanthropic foundations and federal science agencies, and by providing opportunities for agencies’ evaluation teams to engage with researchers from the SSRC’s university consortium, this initiative will accelerate innovation in the federal government.
Accelerating Innovation in the Federal Government
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