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In May 2023, Mathematica hosted a convening on Capitol Hill about embedding evidence in federal decision making, with a focus on the legacy of the nearly five-year-old Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, also known as the Evidence Act. One of the attendees that day was Robert Shea, an expert on performance improvement in government who served on the bipartisan U.S. Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking, a group whose recommendations informed the Evidence Act. Shea is the chief executive officer for GovNavigators, a government management consulting firm, where he hosts a podcast called The GovNavigators Show. His career has also included posts at the White House Office of Management and Budget, the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, and the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight.\n\nOn this episode of Mathematica\u2019s On the Evidence podcast, Shea discusses the improvements he has witnessed since the mid-1990s in the use of data and evidence in federal decision making.\n\n\u201cWe have seen a sea change in the ability of agencies to understand that they need to articulate what they\u2019re trying to accomplish in terms of outcomes, report that transparently,\u201d Shea says on the episode. \u201cA lot of what we\u2019re talking about today is sort of dig deeper\u2014find out whether it\u2019s what we\u2019re doing that\u2019s contributing to the ultimate outcome rather than some other factor.\u201d\n\nThis episode is part of an occasional series on the show called Evidence in Government, which explores new developments in the halls of government and the role that evidence can play in decisions that could improve people\u2019s lives. Mike Burns, Mathematica\u2019s senior director of communications and public affairs at Mathematica, conducts the Evidence in Government interviews.\n\nSHOW NOTES\n\nListen to The GovNavigators Show, a podcast Shea hosts with Adam Hughes about government management: https://www.govnavigators.com/podcast\n\nWatch a recording of the event Mathematica hosted in May 2023 on the Evidence Act: https://www.mathematica.org/events/evidence-at-work-for-the-american-people\n\nLearn more about the U.S. Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking, which made recommendations ahead of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/omb/management/commission_evidence\n\nRead a fact sheet from the Bipartisan Policy Center on the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act: https://bipartisanpolicy.org/blog/fact-sheet-foundations-for-evidence-based-policymaking-act/\n\nRead a press release about the resolution to establish a new commission on evidence-based policymaking: https://kilmer.house.gov/media/press-releases/kilmer-spearheads-legislative-change-with-introduction-of-evidence-based-policymaking-resolution\n\nRead the bipartisan resolution to establish a new commission on evidence-based policymaking to further embed the use of data and evidence in federal decision making: https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-concurrent-resolution/49/text?s=1&r=1&q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Evidence+commission%22%5D%7D