The Centers of Excellence imitative includes several elements that promote data in decision-making at agencies. This concept will get easier with the passage of the Foundations for Evidence-based Policymaking Act in 2018. Andy Feldman, director at Grant Thornton Public Sector, says that there are a few data strategies that can be used to great effect in government.
“They’re not just theoretical. They have been actually been tested over the last decade and found to be practical and useful for agencies to implement,” Feldman told Government Matters. “In general. It’s that top-down message from leadership saying we want to use data and evidence to drive our decisions. But It is also bottom up effort. Getting front line employees involved, for example, in asking what questions don’t you know that could be answered with evidence.”