Departmental Evaluation Plan 2022-23 to 2026-27

2021-22 highlights

Evaluations completed

• Aquatic and Crop Resource Development 
• Herzberg, Astronomy and Astrophysics
• Metrology
• Ocean, Coastal and River Engineering

Evaluations inform decision-making

• 100% of NRC clients surveyed agreed that evaluations address important questions for their program, Research Centre, Branch or IRAP
• 100% agreed that evaluation findings are useful and can be used as evidence to support strategic or operational changes
• Research centres plan to use evaluation results to provide information to their stakeholders, and in support of program design and business planning

Leadership in practice

• Furthering engagement with the external evaluation community: Spearheaded communities of practice across science-based departments and agencies. NRC-Evaluation participated in the 2021 CES National Conference as conference attendees and presenters.
• Supporting the development of next generation evaluators: Contributed to the Canadian Evaluation Society Student Case Competition, the Canadian Evaluation Society Educational Fund and the Canadian Evaluation Society Student and Emerging Evaluators Network.
• Adding value to the NRC beyond traditional evaluations: Conducting a review of NRC's retirement programs to assess awareness and participation among eligible NRC employees and retirees, as well as lessons learned from retirement programs in other science-based government departments.
• Building on current efforts to include GBA+ in evaluations: Continued exploring ways to incorporate an Indigenous perspective in the design and execution of our evaluation projects and worked to create diverse peer review committees for our research centre evaluations.

Maintaining our high standards

• NRC-Evaluation delivered evaluation projects in accordance with professional standards and Policy on Results Directive.
• NRC clients reported that the approach used by OAE was clearly communicated and documented at the outset of the evaluation, and found evaluators to be professional at all times in terms of competence, objectivity and knowledge.
• With the prevalence of telework, NRC-Evaluation was able to look beyond the National Capital Region to hire new employees from across Canada.
• 100% of virtual peer reviewers strongly agreed that they would recommend participation in an NRC peer review. This level of satisfaction has never been reported in a previous year.

Continuous improvement

• Updated the evaluation process map to standardize and provide clarity on all steps in an evaluation.
• Conducted four virtual peer review committees for research centre evaluations.
• Ensured that all new NRC-Evaluation team members completed online training on gender-based analysis plus (through Department for Women and Gender Equality).

Priorities and actions for 2022-23

Evaluations to be completed

• Industrial Research Assistance Program
• Innovation Assistance Program
• Nanotechnology
• TRIUMF

Evaluations to be launched

• Security and Disruptive Technologies
• Collaborative Science, Technology and Innovation (CSTIP)
• International Strategy
• Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan (not led by the NRC)

Meeting Policy on Results Requirements

• Completing the neutral assessment of NRC's evaluation function
• Providing input into TBS exercises such as the Capacity Survey on Results and the Management Accountability Framework
• Reporting annually on the state of performance measurement for evaluation

What we do

• Deliver evaluation projects that support the NRC in the achievement of its mandate.
• Provide independent, timely and forward looking insight to management on a research centre and program relevance and performance.
• Provide support to other areas of the NRC through advisory services.

How we do it

• Maintain organizational awareness and involvement in new and evolving priorities, and identify opportunities to add value.
• Seek opportunities to continue to reduce burden placed on C/B/Is, for example, through leveraging existing data, enhanced reporting approaches, improved planning and coordination between audit and evaluation as well as use of agile approaches.
• Review and optimize use of allocated resources and work approaches including better scoping of projects, use of data analytics, enhanced reporting approaches and leveraging work done by others (e.g., audit).
• Maintain an employee centric approach including promoting: work life-balance, recognition awards, well-being, training and development opportunities.

2022-23 planned resources

Human resources

12.5 Evaluation staff + 1.5 Director General Office (FTEs)