§312 Agency evidence-building plan

Summary

Each agency head must add to the agency’s strategic plan a clear plan for finding and answering policy questions about the agency’s programs, policies, and rules. The plan must list the policy questions the agency will study, the data it will collect, use, or get, the methods it may use to build evidence, any challenges (for example, laws or rules that limit data access), the steps the agency will take to carry out the plan, and any other items the Director’s guidance requires. The agency must talk with stakeholders while making the plan, including the public, other agencies, State and local governments, and outside researchers. At the same time the agency files its annual performance plan, the head must also issue an evaluation plan for the fiscal year following the year the performance plan is submitted. That evaluation plan must describe the main questions for each major evaluation the agency will start next year, the main information collections or acquisitions it will begin, and any other items required by the Director’s guidance.