Understanding Federal OMB Evaluation Guidelines

Federal evaluation language and processes are complicated, can vary by entity, and may lead to workflow bottlenecks that delay projects. This resource serves as a reference for evaluation practitioners attempting to navigate OMB’s evaluation policies and procedures.

Scenario: In 2024, the Team Leads for the RAND workgroup supporting federal Evidence Act evaluations asked me to become the Subject Matter Expert on the OMB’s evaluation guidelines and facilitate a workshop designed to enhance the team’s understanding of and congruency with these guidelines. I rigorously reviewed all materials related to the subject and then translated the concepts and language presented into more familiar language and accessible graphics.

Becoming the SME plays to my strengths: I tend to overprepare for meetings, workshops, and classes because I hate being caught off guard. And focusing on a deep dive into one rabbit hole instead of jumping between four projects allows me to see how the elements of each reference complement or contradict each other. Furthermore, I’m strongly motivated by the drive to feel useful. If I get to act as a resource for people (including by providing training or materials), I will happily devote hours and brainpower to preparing.

Because this was designed to be a standalone training slide deck that people could reference in their own time, there’s more text than I’d normally prefer. I broke it up with frames and colors to keep the eye moving and prevent overwhelm, using various presentation design best practices to the extent possible.

To my understanding, this information is still valid as of June 2026, however several of the live links included in the original slide deck no longer connect. This indicates that the documents were either removed or migrated by the owners. It may be possible to locate archived versions by searching for the title of the policy or resource. If you intend to use this as a resource, please confirm that the contents are valid for your project - policies change and each office follows OMB guidance to a different extent. (And if you discover that something in the slideshow is outdated, please let me know!)

Please feel free to request the slideshow version of this presentation if you’d like to add it to your own resources. You’re welcome to share this with others, but please keep my information at the bottom. I worked hard on this and deserve credit. Thank you!