HUD Management: Impact Measurement Needed for Technical Assistance

HUD is working with a group of national technical assistance providers to develop a framework to assess the effectiveness of its technical assistance programs. The framework was submitted to HUD in March, 2003 for review and comment. In addition, OMB is requiring HUD and some of the technical assistance/capacity building grantees to conduct a Program Assessment Rating Tool review, designed to promote performance measurement and accountability. Furthermore, some recipients of Section 4 capacity building funds have contracted with a consultant to develop impact measurements for 23 cities across the nation. HUD has added a new rating factor (rating factor 5--achieving results and program evaluation) to its SuperNOFA process. First required in the April 2003 SuperNOFA, the new rating factor requires grant applicants, including technical assistance providers, to identify program outcomes, interim products or benchmarks, and performance indicators that will allow them to measure performance. Also, HUD also conducted a training workshop on results-oriented management and accountability for its grant management specialists that was focused on developing the language for rating factor 5.