§312 Agency Evidence-building Plan

Summary

Each agency head must put into 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 say which policy questions the agency will study, what data it will collect or get, what methods it will use to analyze evidence, any problems or legal limits to getting data, how the agency will do the work, and any other items the Director’s guidance requires. When the agency files its yearly performance plan, it must also file an evaluation plan for the next fiscal year. That evaluation plan must name the main questions for each major study the agency will start and the key data collections or acquisitions it will begin, plus any other items from the Director’s guidance. The agency must talk with the public, other agencies, state and local governments, and outside researchers when making these plans.