Evaluation in the Obama Administration Presented By George F. Grob Center for Public Program Evaluation November 2010

Center for Public Program Evaluation Key Players at OMB Peter Orszag, Former Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Jeffrey Zients, Deputy Director for Management and current Acting Director of OMB Shelley Metzenbaum, Associate Director for Performance and Personnel Management Jeffrey Liebman, Executive Associate Director and Associate Director for Economic Policy 2

Center for Public Program Evaluation Evaluation Policy in the Making President Obama’s Campaign Statements Economic Recovery Act OMB Science and Technology Guidance OMB Policy on Increased Emphasis on Evaluation OMB Budget Guidance –2011 –2012 3

Center for Public Program Evaluation Performance Improvement Shift Away from Universal PART Focus on High Priority Goals Retains Performance Improvement Officers and Their Council Evaluation Advisory Group 4

Center for Public Program Evaluation New Evaluation Frontier Global Health Initiative –Evaluation undergirding new international development strategy –Based on partnerships with host nations 5

Center for Public Program Evaluation Common Messages from Obama Administration Evaluation should be an integral part of policy making and program management Streamline process and paperwork Emphasize analysis of trends and evaluation data Need independent, rigorous evaluations Focus on a few high priority programs Examine cross cutting areas Make Cabinet and senior agency appointees accountable for performance goals Communicate with the Congress in setting performance goals Use evaluation to compare different ways to accomplish program objectives 6

Center for Public Program Evaluation Key Documents Budget Guidance: Building a High Performing Government (for 2011 Budget) OMB Memo on Increased Emphasis on Evaluation (for 2011 Budget) Testimony of Jeffrey Zients at Senate Budget Committee Hearing 7

Center for Public Program Evaluation Key Documents (Contd.) FY 2012 Budget Guidance 19.pdf 19.pdf Outgoing Budget Director Peter Orszag’s “Valedictory” Memorandum on Evaluating Programs for Efficacy and Cost-Efficiency Incoming Acting Budget Director Jeffrey Zients Blog 8

Center for Public Program Evaluation Key Documents (Contd.) President Obama’s Global Health Initiative 9

Center for Public Program Evaluation Staying in Touch x – –Website: –Discussion Group: scussion.asp scussion.asp