Monitoring and Evaluation in the United States Government

Abstract

This report is divided into five parts.
 Following this introduction, Section two provides an
 overview of the institutions and most important features in
 the landscape of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) at the
 federal level in the United States. Section three detailed
 the actual systems for performance M&E that is now in
 place in the Executive Branch and coordinated (or led) by
 the office of management and budget, including a look at
 their evolution and expected future trends. The focus is on
 the executive system, because it directly supports
 management and budgeting decisions, and because it provides
 a key basis for evaluation and research conducted by other
 agencies (such as the U.S. Government Accountability Office,
 or GAO and Congressional Budget Office, or CBO). Section
 four discusses the strengths and particular challenges faced
 by these systems, and section five concludes the report with
 lessons that may be useful to other countries.