Monday, August 3, 2026
By Nate Varnell, Consultant for the Evaluation Policy Task Force
Welcome back to Policy Watch! In this issue, we cover the historic public engagement on OMB's proposed overhaul of federal grantmaking, a new order affecting Census Bureau data and federal statistics, engagement opportunities for evaluators, and more.
Responses to Uniform Grants Guidance: The White House Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) proposed overhaul of the Uniform Guidance for Federal Grants (2 CFR 200), which would significantly reshape how federal grants are awarded, administered, and terminated across the U.S., closed for public comment on July 13 with a historic 496,775 submissions to Regulations.gov. An analysis by STAT and researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found 95 percent of comments were in opposition to the proposed rule, and just 1 percent in support.
AEA responded to the proposed changes by signing onto an open letter from the National Council of Nonprofits opposing the proposed guidance, and invited members to join the letter or submit individual public comments. Additionally, a separate statement from AEA on July 3rd focused on the concerns most relevant to evaluators: risks to evaluator independence from the proposal's new political appointee review of discretionary awards, potential grant award instability due to mid-stream terminations, and the proposal’s restrictions on open access and the exchange of scientific knowledge through publications and presentations of research.
Changes to Census Bureau Data: In June, the Department of Commerce issued a new order restricting the methods available to the Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) to protect the confidentiality of statistics they publish. Specifically, the order prohibits “noise infusion” (modifying a dataset by adding random values, or "noise," to certain entries), which is the privacy approach the Census Bureau adopted for the 2020 Census. The order designates “coarsening” (reducing the level of detail, for example, by rounding, aggregating (grouping), or reporting ranges) as the preferred method going forward, and permits “data suppression” methods (expressly withholding certain values) only as a last resort. A coalition of statistical associations issued a joint statement raising concerns about the changes. For evaluators, the stakes sit in the methods an agency chooses, and whether small-area and public-use microdata stay fine-grained enough to support local and subpopulation-level evaluation work. The Data Foundation published a neutral fact sheet and explainer walking through the different privacy approaches, what the order does, and what remains unresolved about its implementation.
White House Releases New Science Strategy: On July 21, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Director Michael Kratsios released Science: A New Golden Age, a report calling for restructuring how the federal government funds roughly $200 billion in annual research and development. Several recommendations are relevant to evaluation, including calls for the establishment of metascience offices in federal science agencies and for reducing indirect cost recovery for research institutions, by shifting these funds to “direct research activities.”
Statistical Data Access Change: Members who use the Standard Application Process (SAP) Portal for access to confidential federal statistical data should know the portal has migrated from ResearchDataGov.org, which closed permanently on June 16, to its new home at sap.nsf.gov.
This issue introduces a new section compiling public engagement opportunities relevant to evaluators. For guidance on writing a substantive comment, see the Data Foundation's new Expert Engagement Guides, or revisit our April AEA Town Hall recording on engaging in the policy process at AEA's Town Halls page. Future editions may include events and other resources — suggest entries at evaluationpolicy@eval.org!
On June 16, the Evaluation Policy Task Force (EPTF) hosted an AEA Town Hall to debut the 2026 update to AEA's Roadmap for a More Effective Government. Approved by the AEA Board of Directors on May 11, the Roadmap is a foundational document describing AEA’s vision for what sound, trustworthy evaluation looks like in government.
Thank you to everyone who joined us live and to those who have engaged with the Roadmap since. This Town Hall was the first of several planned opportunities to put the document to use, and we will continue rolling out ways for members to engage with it in the months ahead.
The EPTF continues to monitor the changing state of federal, state, local, and Tribal government policy for the evaluation community. If you are aware of news that impacts your work or the work of other evaluators, consider providing information to the EPTF via evaluationpolicy@eval.org.