Celebrating 100 collaborations across government

November 16, 2021

The first panel reflected on what the Office of Evaluation Scineces (OES) has learned after 100 collaborations, using the results from panelists’ projects to illustrate what makes successful projects. The second panel discussed how OES and contributes to the portfolio of evidence on equity and economic recovery. Finally, the third panel considered what’s next for OES and evidence in government. A detailed agenda and speaker biographies can be found here.

OES@100 Presentation Slides (PDF)

OES@100 Virtual Packet (PDF)

Watch the Event Recording

Welcome and introduction:

  • Robin Carnahan, Administrator, General Services Administration
  • Kelly Bidwell, Director, OES, General Services Administration

What leads to a successful evaluation? Reflections from 100 OES collaborations

  • Pompa Debroy, Strategy and Operations Lead, OES, GSA
  • Michael Hand, Portfolio Lead, OES, GSA
  • Mary Clair Turner, Portfolio Lead, OES, GSA
  • Elana Safran, Portfolio Lead, OES, GSA
  • Jasper Cooper, Portfolio Lead, OES, GSA

OES has completed 100 collaborations across government since 2015. Our evaluations have involved over 44 million individuals. During this session, OES shared the following reflections:

  1. A program change and evaluation approach don’t have to be ideal to be valuable.
  2. Coupling randomized evaluations with administrative data let’s us learn things quickly, rigorously and at low-cost.
  3. There’s more to sample size than counting the number of participants in a program.
  4. Being transparent about implementation — as well as results — has enormous value.

Reflections from 100 OES Collaborations (PDF)

Portfolio of evidence on equity and economic recovery

  • Crystal Hall, Academic Affiliate, OES, GSA; Associate Professor of Public Policy and Governance, University of Washington
  • Brittany Borg, (Acting) Director of Program Performance, Analysis & Evaluation, SBA
  • Julia Brown, Associate Fellow, OES, GSA; Doctoral Student, Department of Economics, University of Maryland

OES presented their portfolio of evaluations with the Small Business Administration (SBA). These evaluations focused on how city governments distributed COVID-19 relief to small businesses and lessons learned in order to increase equal access to these resources.

Lessons Learned from the OES Portfolio on Equity & Small Business Recovery (PDF)

image This was followed by a panel discussion that included:

  • Jason Bossie, (Acting) Chief Financial Officer, SBA
  • Clarence Wardell III, Chief Data and Equitable Delivery Officer, ARP Implementation team; Senior Advisor for Policy Implementation & Delivery, White House Domestic Policy Council
  • Exodie Roe III, Associate Administrator, Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, GSA
  • Andrea M. O’Neal, Senior Advisor to the Administrator (Equity), GSA

New frontier for evidence in government - what’s next?

During this session, panelists discussed the increased focus on Evidence Act implementation through an equity lense.

  • David Yokum, Director, The Policy Lab, Brown University
  • Cass Sunstein, Senior Counselor, Department of Homeland Security
  • Christina Ciocca Eller, Assistant Director of Evidence and Policy, White House Office of Science and Technology
  • Pam Coleman, Associate Director of Performance and Personnel Management, Office of Management and Budget
  • Jeanne Holm, Deputy Mayor, City of Los Angeles

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Closing remarks

  • Krystal J. Brumfield, Chief Acquisition Officer and Associate Administrator, Office of Government-wide Policy, GSA