The OIG Evaluation office initiated an evaluation to determine whether the U.S. AbilityOne Commission’s 2022-2026 Strategic Plan contained the necessary framework, including specific operational initiatives, objectives, and associated performance measures. This evaluation was conducted to identify elements to consider incorporating in the next iteration of their strategic plan.
Overall, the Commission created a thoughtful and attainable approach to developing a new strategic plan to work toward the goal of modernizing the AbilityOne Program. We found that the Commission’s 2022-2026 Strategic Plan includes all required strategic plan elements according to federal regulations.
The Commission is a non-Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act agency, and some statutory elements are not required. As a part of this evaluation, the OIG identified that the inclusion of two additional elements would further enhance the effectiveness of the next iteration of the Commission’s strategic plan. Specifically, the Commission potentially missed key learning opportunities for its strategic plan goals, objectives, and measures because it did not conduct evidence building activities or perform its own internal program evaluations. Furthermore, the Commission should incorporate more quantitative measures in the next iteration. Although the Commission has met federal requirements, these additional elements would provide a more comprehensive and evidence-based approach for measuring the progress toward goals and objectives in the AbilityOne program.
The OIG recommended that the AbilityOne Commission meet with Commission members and stakeholders to determine whether (1) incorporating evidence building and (2) program evaluation into its next strategic planning process would help in identifying key areas of improvement and improve outcomes. The OIG also recommended that the AbilityOne Commission enhance its ability to track and monitor progress and the successful implementation of agency goals, by establishing and incorporating quantitative measures into the 2026-2030 strategic plan.
