4: Other Strategies

Propose other strategies that would significantly improve agency capacity to use or build evidence to achieve better results or increase cost-effectiveness in high priority programs.

Other Information:

Other agency-specific needs: Agencies may propose other strategies that would significantly improve their capacity to use or build evidence to achieve better results or increase cost-effectiveness in high priority programs. In addition to developing strategies to use evidence to promote continuous, incremental improvement, agencies are also encouraged to submit proposals that would test higher-risk, higher-return innovations with the potential to lead to more dramatic improvements in results or reductions in cost.

Stakeholder(s):

• Agencies: While agencies are encouraged to submit proposals that can be implemented within current statutory authorities, legislative changes will also be considered. (Please note where a proposal would require legislative changes.) Agencies may also propose new investments in evidence-building infrastructure for high-priority areas in cases where the benefits substantially outweigh the costs. Agencies may wish to consider new financing approaches, set-asides that designate a small fraction of funding for evaluation and evidence development; and partnerships with other federal agencies, state and local governments, non-profit organizations, and academic institutions. We particularly encourage proposals that cross agency boundaries or other functional silos. Agencies should work with their OMB contacts to agree on a format within their 2015 budget submissions to: (1) explain agency progress in using evidence and (2) present their plans to build new knowledge of what works and is cost-effective. An example of a template that could be used to provide this information to Resource Management Offices is available at https://max.gov/omb/evidence.

Objective(s):

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