Evaluators and the enhanced Commonwealth performance framework

The enhanced Commonwealth performance framework was introduced on 1 July 2015 under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013. It should allow the Australian Parliament and public to understand the proper use of public resources, whether the accountable authorities of Commonwealth entities and companies are achieving their purposes and who is benefitting from Commonwealth activity. Demonstrating the achievement of purposes amounts to demonstrating outcomes and impacts. It requires Commonwealth entities and companies to move past an over-reliance on input- and output-focused performance measures. There is a clear role for evaluators in helping entities make this important adjustment. The opportunities lie in helping a larger cross-section of the Commonwealth public service understand and use the evaluators’ toolbox – for example, program theory and qualitative analysis – to improve the quality of published performance information available to the Commonwealth’s stakeholders. The evaluation community has the opportunity to become a centre of key expertise, and to make a critical contribution to building the capability of ‘performance professionals’ across the public sector