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Evidence Act Hub
Welcome to the Evidence Act Hub, a digital repository and resource hub designed to preserve and organize strategic plans, reports, and toolkits related to federal data and evaluation activities required under the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act (Evidence Act). This living archive serves as a central venue for the evidence community to access critical resources that support federal transparency and capacity-building.
Our evidence plan archive is a comprehensive repository of laws, guidances, and strategic agency documents, such as learning agendas and open data plans, collected and preserved from federal agencies.
These documents bring transparency to how agencies are fulfilling legislation such as the Evidence Act and Open DATA Act, and enable external stakeholders to hold agencies accountable for using evidence in policymaking and decision-making. By archiving these plans, our evidence plan archive preserves institutional knowledge about federal priorities and evidence needs. The collection enables researchers to track how agencies' information needs evolve and ensures that evidence-building commitments remain accessible regardless of political transitions or changes in agency web infrastructure.
What is the Evidence Act?
The Evidence Act of 2018 set the stage for major government-wide reforms for making data accessible, rigorous, and useful for decision-making. Since its enactment, the law has transformed open data policy and institutionalized evidence-building activities, resulting in new agency leadership roles (Chief Data Officer, Evaluation Officer, and Statistical Official) and strategic planning documents, such as agency learning agendas, capacity assessments, annual evaluation plans, and open data plans.
Read our one-page primer on how the law shapes data-driven decision-making at federal agencies.
Why create a hub for the Evidence Act?
In 2025, the long-standing need for a hub became more urgent as it became harder to find Evidence Act documents and resources on federal websites. The Data Foundation stepped in to ensure that public-facing materials related to the Evidence Act would remain accessible, regardless of future changes in the availability of resources on government websites.
For the hub’s launch, we have organized information across two broad areas:
The Evidence Act Hub is a project of the Center for Evidence Capacity, led by the Data Foundation's Sara Stefanik and Nathan Varnell. To learn more about the Data Foundation team supporting the hub, including the Center for Evidence Capacity staff and fellows, visit our team page.
COMING SOON!
In 2026, the Evidence Act Hub will expand to include additional features, including curated toolkits and frameworks and live tracking of federal Chief Data Officers and Evaluation Officers.
The Data Foundation welcomes input on potential enhancements and additions to the Hub that would be most valuable to the data and evidence communities. Please contact evidencehub@datafoundation.org to submit questions, feedback, or ideas.
