[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 38, Volume 1]
[Revised as of January 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 38CFR1.15]

[Page 13-14]
 
            TITLE 38--PENSIONS, BONUSES, AND VETERANS' RELIEF
 
                CHAPTER I--DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
 
PART 1_GENERAL PROVISIONS--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 1.15  Standards for program evaluation.

    (a) The Department of Veterans Affairs will evaluate all programs 
authorized under title 38 U.S.C. These evaluations will be conducted so 
as to determine each program's effectiveness in achieving its stated 
goals and in achieving such goals in relation to their cost. In 
addition, these evaluations will determine each program's impact on 
related programs and its structure and mechanism for delivery of 
services. All programs will be evaluated on a continuing basis and all 
evaluations will be conducted by Department of Veterans Affairs staff 
assigned to an organizational entity other than those responsible for 
program administration. These evaluations will be conducted with 
sufficient frequency to allow for an assessment of the continued 
effectiveness of the programs.
    (b) The program evaluation will be designed to determine if the 
existing program supports the intent of the law. A program evaluation 
must identify goals and objectives that support this intent, contain a 
method to measure fulfillment of the objectives, ascertain the degree to 
which goals and objectives are met, and report the findings and 
conclusions to Congress, as well as make them available to the public.
    (c) The goals must be clear, specific, and measurable. To be clear 
they must be readily understood, free from doubt or confusion, and 
specific goals must be explicitly set forth. They must be measurable by 
objective means. These means can include use of existing record systems, 
observations, and information from other sources.
    (d) All program evaluations require a detailed evaluation plan. The 
evaluation plan must clearly state the objectives of the program 
evaluation, the methodology to be used, resources to be committed, and a 
timetable of major phases.
    (e) Each program evaluation must be objective. It must report the 
accomplishments as well as the shortcomings of the program in an 
unbiased way. The program evaluation must have findings that give 
decision-makers information which is of a level of detail and importance 
to enable decisions to be made affecting either direction or operation. 
The information in the program evaluation must be timely, and must 
contain information of sufficient currency that decisions based on the 
data in the evaluation can be made with a high degree of confidence in 
the data.
    (f) Each program evaluation requires a systematic research design to 
collect the data necessary to measure the objectives. This research 
design should conform to the following:
    (1) Rationale. The research design for each evaluation should 
contain a specific rationale and should be structured to determine 
possible cause and effect relationships.
    (2) Relevancy. It must deal with issues currently existing within 
the program, within the Department, and within the environment in which 
the program operates.
    (3) Validity. The degree of statistical validity should be assessed 
within the research design. Alternatives include an assessment of cost 
of data collection

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vs. results necessary to support decisions.
    (4) Reliability. Use of the same research design by others should 
yield the same findings.
    (g) The final program evaluation report will be reviewed for 
comments and concurrence by relevant organizations within the Department 
of Veterans Affairs, but in no case should this review unreasonably 
delay the results of the evaluation. Where disagreement exists, the 
dissenting organization's position should be summarized for a decision 
by the Secretary.
    (h) The final program evaluation report will be forwarded, with 
approved recommendations, to the concerned organization. An action plan 
to accomplish the approved recommendations will be forwarded for 
evaluation by the evaluating entity.
    (i) Program evaluation results should be integrated to the maximum 
extent possible into Department of Veterans Affairs plans and budget 
submissions to ensure continuity with other Department of Veterans 
Affairs management processes.

(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 527)

[47 FR 53735, Nov. 29, 1982, as amended at 54 FR 34980, Aug. 23, 1989]