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1999 September and November Report of the Auditor General of Canada
September and November 1999 Report—Chapter 22
Exhibit 22.11—Office of Research and Development: Measures of Success
"In general, the success of a research organization can be measured in several ways: by the number of articles published in prestigious scientific journals, by the number of times that articles written by the organization's scientists are cited in other journals, and so on. However, for a mission-oriented organization like the Office of Research and Development (ORD), measures of the extent that we help and support the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in meeting its goals are equally crucial. In measuring the success of this Strategic Plan, the quality of ORD's work, and the usefulness of our research products, we will use the following measures of success.Significance: Is ORD working on the right issues?
This is a measure that the EPA Program Offices and Regions and the broad scientific community can help us judge. For our research, development and support efforts to be useful, we must work on the most important environmental issues and target areas for research that will significantly improve risk assessment and/or risk management in the Agency and elsewhere. Peer review by scientists in the external scientific community will assist us in judging significance.
Relevance: Is ORD providing data that the agency can use?
This question can best be answered by the rest of the Agency and is best judged by the degree to which contributions support EPA decisions. ORD will strive to ensure that its work is useful to the Agency and has a positive impact on advancing EPA's mission. ORD's new information management plan seeks to ensure that we make our stakeholders aware of and able to access ORD's science data and information products.
Credibility: Is ORD doing research of the highest quality?
ORD's credibility can best be judged by the external scientific community through such mechanisms as peer review of ORD products, reviews of programs at the ORD laboratories, peer-reviewed journal articles, scientific citations, and external recognition of both ORD and its people. Further, we will be judged by the external scientific community on the extent to which we advance the state of environmental science.
Timeliness: Is ORD meeting EPA's expert consultation and assessment needs in a timely manner, providing research products according to schedule, and addressing long-term issues with adequate forethought and preparation?
The first part of this question can best be answered by EPA's Program Offices and Regions as they determine whether ORD consultations and assessments are being provided in time to be optimally useful for Agency decisions. The middle part of this question can be answered by ORD managers and EPA's Program Offices and Regions through annual program reviews and other activities. The final aspect of timeliness is more subjective and therefore more difficult to assess. ORD has accepted the challenge of anticipating important environmental issues that are just emerging and may not become critical problems until well into the next century. The U.S. public is the ultimate judge of how successful ORD has been in this effort. ORD will strive to regularly gather the public's view on this issue."
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1997 Update to ORD Strategic Plan http://epa.gov/osp/stplan.htm.