Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is responding to the recently enacted Evidence Act (P.L.115-435) by building infrastructure and capacity for evidence generation and use within the agency. This effort is coordinated by the Evaluation and Assessment Capability (EAC) Section of the Office of Integrative Activities, which is a central unit supporting the Office of the Director. EAC has employed human-centered design approaches to engage diverse stakeholders to identify evidence needs and develop evidence plans. With guidance from the White House Office of Management and Budget and direction of NSF senior leadership, EAC is working to better understand how research funding is similar to or different from other programmatic interventions. This effort requires EAC to harness high quality data to inform decisions by asking good questions, identifying appropriate evidence, and exploring new ways to use administrative data and data analytics. There are over 20 federal agencies providing RDI funding and each is independently responding to the Evidence Act. There is much to be learned through collaborative discourse. Therefore, EAC convened a workshop for evidence and assessment leaders from various U.S. federal RDI agencies to identify common and unique challenges faced as we respond to the Evidence Act. This paper presents some of the findings that emerged from that workshop regarding tools and strategies that could be useful in addressing these challenges as EAC continues to traverse this landscape.