Evidence at the Department of the Interior

Interior is committed to building and using evidence for effective program management and strategic decision-making. The Director of the Interior's Office of Planning and Performance Management, who also serves as Evaluation Officer, is responsible for overseeing the Department’s evaluation activities, learning agenda, and capacity assessment, as well as collaborating with bureaus and offices to shape and support strategic evidence-building activities. The Evaluation Officer works in coordination with the Interior's Chief Data Officer and Statistical Official to build the evidence necessary for decisions about program operations, policy, and regulations and gain visibility into the impact of resource allocation on achieving program and overall Department objectives. 

The following documents guide Interior’s efforts under the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018.

• FY 2024 Update to the Interior FY 2022-2026 Learning Agenda: Outlines a set of priority learning questions to guide organizational learning and build evidence for decision making. The learning agenda aligns with and supports the Interior FY 2022-2026 Strategic Plan.

   

• Annual Evaluation Plans: Summarize Interior’s plans to conduct significant program evaluations.

  • Interior FY 2023 Annual Evaluation Plan
  • Interior FY 2024 Annual Evaluation Plan
  • Interior FY 2025 Annual Evaluation Plan

   

• Interior FY 2022-2026 Capacity Assessment :  Reviews Interior’s coverage, quality, methods, effectiveness, and independence in its use of statistics, evaluation, research, and analysis.

   

• Interior's Evaluation Policy: Sets forth departmental standards and practices for designing and conducting rigorous program evaluations.