Capacity Assessments

Capacity assessments are reports authored by agencies on their organization’s capabilities to build and use evidence effectively. Required by the Evidence Act to be included in strategic plans every four years, these assessments examine the following:

• Coverage
• Quality
• Methods
• Effectiveness
• Independence of an agency's statistics, evaluation, research, and analysis efforts

The assessments provide a baseline snapshot of agency evaluation infrastructure, including the activities currently being evaluated, what methods are being employed, what staff expertise exists, and what gaps limit the agency's ability to answer priority questions from its learning agenda.

Capacity assessments prompt agencies to examine whether they have the infrastructure needed to execute their learning agendas and annual evaluation plans. They identify where agencies need to invest in training, hire specialized expertise, improve data systems, or establish new analytic capabilities. For evidence advocates and congressional oversight, capacity assessments provide a measuring stick for tracking whether agencies are building the long-term infrastructure required for sustained evidence-based policymaking. Capacity assessments shift the conversation from individual evaluation projects to systemic organizational capability, recognizing that occasional evaluations will not transform government—only sustained investment in people, processes, and systems will.