Judging whether a programme worked, and the design that lets you say so
Programme evaluation is commissioned to answer a question about effectiveness that the programme's own reporting cannot answer. The technical bid is therefore an argument about inference: what comparison makes it possible to say that the observed change was caused by the programme rather than by everything else happening at the same time. Experimental and quasi-experimental designs, and the circumstances in which each is credible, are the substance of the proposal, and evaluators who promise attribution the data cannot support are marked down by competent panels.
Timing determines what is possible, and it is usually decided before the evaluator arrives. Where no baseline was collected and no comparison group identified, some questions become permanently unanswerable, and an honest bid says which and offers what can be established instead -- implementation fidelity, contribution analysis, theory-based evaluation with tested assumptions. Buyers increasingly commission evaluation alongside the programme rather than after it, precisely so the design is not foreclosed.
Independence and publication are contractual, not cultural. The evaluator should be free of any role in designing or delivering what is being evaluated, and the contract should protect the right to report findings that are unwelcome, with a factual-accuracy review that does not become an editorial veto. Buyers commonly require the data, code and instruments to be deposited so the analysis can be reproduced, and increasingly require the report to be published regardless of its conclusions, which is the strongest single indicator that an evaluation is being commissioned in good faith.
This section describes how this category is bought generally, across the public buyers that publish it. The figures elsewhere on this page are measured for this market alone.
Who buys program evaluation in United States?
GlobalGov holds 485 program evaluation records from 241 distinct buying organisations in United States. The most frequent publishers are 261-Network Contract Office 21 (36C261) (17 records); 252-Network Contract Office 12 (36C252) (16 records); 252-Network Contract Office 12 (36C252) (13 records); 256-Network Contract Office 16 (36C256) (10 records); 242-Network Contract Office 02 (36C242) (9 records); Network Contract Office 19 (36C259) (9 records). Between them the 6 largest account for 15% of everything published, so buying here is spread across many separate authorities.
| Buying organisation | Records | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 261-Network Contract Office 21 (36C261) | 17 | 3.5% |
| 252-Network Contract Office 12 (36C252) | 16 | 3.3% |
| 252-Network Contract Office 12 (36C252) | 13 | 2.7% |
| 256-Network Contract Office 16 (36C256) | 10 | 2.1% |
| 242-Network Contract Office 02 (36C242) | 9 | 1.9% |
| Network Contract Office 19 (36C259) | 9 | 1.9% |
What are program evaluation contracts worth in United States?
49 of the 485 records publish a contract value. The median is $119,051 and the largest single published value is $126.1M. By size, 24 under $100k, 19 between $100k and $1M, 3 between $1M and $10M, 3 above $10M. The remaining 436 publish no value at all, so every figure here describes the priced subset only, and values are as stated by the buyer rather than as finally awarded.
| Contract size | Records | Share of priced |
|---|---|---|
| under $100k | 24 | 49% |
| between $100k and $1M | 19 | 39% |
| between $1M and $10M | 3 | 6.1% |
| above $10M | 3 | 6.1% |
How long do bidders get to respond to program evaluation tenders in United States?
Across the 473 United States program evaluation notices that publish both a publication date and a closing date, the median response window is 12 days. A quarter of them allowed 7 days or fewer and a quarter stayed open for more than 17. 259 of them (55%) closed within a fortnight of being published, so on this market a bidder who reviews notices once a week can lose most of the response window before reading one.
How often are program evaluation tenders published in United States?
United States publishes about 39 notices a month in this category, 465 in the last twelve months. That is 2806% more than the 16 published in the twelve months before that. Over the last three years there were 482, spread across 19 separate months of activity since 11 July 2017. April is historically the busiest month. The most recent was published 8 July 2026.
Where do the United States program evaluation records on this page come from?
These 485 records are collected from 4 official sources: SAM.gov (481), USAspending (2), Grants.gov (1), Simpler.Grants.gov (1). GlobalGov is an independent aggregator and is not affiliated with any of them; each record links back to the notice on its issuing portal. The set is rebuilt nightly, and the counts on this page were taken on 2026-10-01.
Open Program Evaluation tenders in United States
Showing 5 of the 6 notices open in this category today. Openness uses the same definition as the United States market page: active, not marked awarded, cancelled, closed or expired, and either closing in the future or published within the last 90 days with no stated closing date.
Government Publishing Office FY26 Equipment Inspection
Hydropower HSS In-depth Inspection Services RS Kerr and Broken Bow
H342--PMI Svc, Fire Extinguishers - Base Plus Four (4) Option Years Base PoP: 11/1/25 - 10/31/26
Laundry Chemical Supplies and Maintenance
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Program Evaluation procurement in other markets
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