Each year, government organisations in Australia spend millions on external evaluations. Faced with shrinking budgets, there is increasing pressure on program managers and policymakers to demonstrate value for money by ensuring that external evaluations are high quality, policy-relevant and cost effective and that the process of commissioning is fair and transparent.

While many government organisations have their own procurement policies and procedures which are designed to maximise public accountability and transparency, getting value for money from external evaluations requires managers to achieve a difficult balance between factors such as budget and the time available, depth of analysis required, policy and program translatability and risks.

In this course, participants will be taken systematically through the process of commissioning external evaluations in the public sector. Key elements covered in the course include:

• Writing the Request for Proposal – telling suppliers what the commissioning organisation wants and needs out of the proposed evaluation.

• Assessing proposals – developing assessment criteria and using internal versus external assessors.

• Agreeing on the scope of work – reaching agreement on the How? (e.g. methods of analysis, data sources), What? (e.g. products, analytical outputs) and When (e.g. timeframes and deadlines).

• Establishing the rules of engagement – reaching agreement on the contract terms and conditions; payments, incentives and penalties; and setting performance expectations and standards.

• Managing and communicating with external suppliers – the importance of dialogue between commissioning organisations and suppliers.

Drawing on examples from public sector organisations, course participants will be given an understanding of the key issues and considerations in relation to commissioning and managing external evaluations. By the end of the course, participants will be able to develop a detailed Request for Proposal, develop criteria for assessing proposals and practical processes for successfully managing suppliers.