Appendix A

Department of Veterans Affairs

§ 1.15
A program evaluation must identify
goals and objectives that support this
intent, contain a method to measure
fulfillment of the objectives, ascertain
the degree to which goals and objectives are met, and report the findings
and conclusions to Congress, as well as
make them available to the public.
(c) The goals must be clear, specific,
and measurable. To be clear they must
be readily understood, free from doubt
or confusion, and specific goals must be
explicitly set forth. They must be
measurable by objective means. These
means can include use of existing
record systems, observations, and information from other sources.
(d) All program evaluations require a
detailed evaluation plan. The evaluation plan must clearly state the objectives of the program evaluation, the
methodology to be used, resources to
be committed, and a timetable of
major phases.
(e) Each program evaluation must be
objective. It must report the accomplishments as well as the shortcomings
of the program in an unbiased way. The
program evaluation must have findings
that give decision-makers information
which is of a level of detail and importance to enable decisions to be made
affecting either direction or operation.
The information in the program evaluation must be timely, and must contain information of sufficient currency
that decisions based on the data in the
evaluation can be made with a high degree of confidence in the data.
(f) Each program evaluation requires
a systematic research design to collect
the data necessary to measure the objectives. This research design should
conform to the following:
(1) Rationale. The research design for
each evaluation should contain a specific rationale and should be structured
to determine possible cause and effect
relationships.
(2) Relevancy. It must deal with
issues currently existing within the
program, within the Department, and
within the environment in which the
program operates.
(3) Validity. The degree of statistical
validity should be assessed within the
research design. Alternatives include
an assessment of cost of data collection

QUARTERS FOR DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS EMPLOYEES OVERSEAS

§ 1.11 Quarters for Department of Veterans Affairs employees in Government-owned or –rented buildings
overseas.
Pursuant to the provisions of 5 U.S.C.
5912, a U.S. citizen employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs permanently stationed in a foreign country
may be furnished, without cost to him
or her, living quarters, including heat,
fuel, and light, in a Government-owned
or –rented building. When in the interest of the service and when administratively feasible, an agreement may be
entered into by the Under Secretary
for Benefits or designee with another
Federal agency, which is authorized to
furnish quarters, to provide such quarters for Department of Veterans Affairs
employees under the provisions of 31
U.S.C. 686. Quarters provided will be in
lieu of any living quarters allowance to
which the employee may otherwise be
entitled.
(Authority: 72 Stat. 1114; 38 U.S.C. 501)
[33 FR 362, Jan. 10, 1968]

PROGRAM EVALUATION
§ 1.15 Standards for program evaluation.
(a) The Department of Veterans Affairs will evaluate all programs authorized under title 38 U.S.C. These evaluations will be conducted so as to determine each program’s effectiveness in
achieving its stated goals and in
achieving such goals in relation to
their cost. In addition, these evaluations will determine each program’s
impact on related programs and its
structure and mechanism for delivery
of services. All programs will be evaluated on a continuing basis and all evaluations will be conducted by Department of Veterans Affairs staff assigned
to an organizational entity other than
those responsible for program administration. These evaluations will be conducted with sufficient frequency to
allow for an assessment of the continued effectiveness of the programs.
(b) The program evaluation will be
designed to determine if the existing
program supports the intent of the law.

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§ 1.17

38 CFR Ch. I (7–1–05 Edition)
erans’ Advisory Committee on Environmental Hazards.
(c) When the Secretary determines,
based on the evaluation of scientific or
medical studies and after receiving the
advice of the Veterans’ Advisory Committee on Environmental Hazards and
applying the reasonable doubt doctrine
as set forth in paragraph (d)(1) of this
section, that a significant statistical
association exists between any disease
and exposure to a herbicide containing
dioxin or exposure to ionizing radiation, § 3.311a or § 3.311b of this title, as
appropriate, shall be amended to provide guidelines for the establishment of
service connection.
(d)(1) For purposes of paragraph (c) of
this section a significant statistical association shall be deemed to exist when
the relative weights of valid positive
and negative studies permit the conclusion that it is at least as likely as not
that the purported relationship between a particular type of exposure and
a specific adverse health effect exists.
(2) For purposes of this paragraph a
valid study is one which:
(i) Has adequately described the
study design and methods of data collection, verification and analysis;
(ii) Is reasonably free of biases, such
as selection, observation and participation biases; however, if biases exist, the
investigator has acknowledged them
and so stated the study’s conclusions
that the biases do not intrude upon
those conclusions; and
(iii) Has satisfactorily accounted for
known confounding factors.
(3) For purposes of this paragraph a
valid positive study is one which satisfies the criteria in paragraph (d)(2) of
this section and whose findings are statistically significant at a probability
level of .05 or less with proper accounting for multiple comparisons and subgroup analyses.
(4) For purposes of this paragraph a
valid negative study is one which satisfies the criteria in paragraph (d)(2) of
this section and has sufficient statistical power to detect an association between a particular type of exposure and
a specific adverse health effect if such
an association were to exist.
(e) For purposes of assessing the relative weights of valid positive and negative studies, other studies affecting

vs. results necessary to support decisions.
(4) Reliability. Use of the same research design by others should yield
the same findings.
(g) The final program evaluation report will be reviewed for comments and
concurrence by relevant organizations
within the Department of Veterans Affairs, but in no case should this review
unreasonably delay the results of the
evaluation. Where disagreement exists,
the dissenting organization’s position
should be summarized for a decision by
the Secretary.
(h) The final program evaluation report will be forwarded, with approved
recommendations, to the concerned organization. An action plan to accomplish the approved recommendations
will be forwarded for evaluation by the
evaluating entity.
(i) Program evaluation results should
be integrated to the maximum extent
possible into Department of Veterans
Affairs plans and budget submissions
to ensure continuity with other Department of Veterans Affairs management processes.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 527)
[47 FR 53735, Nov. 29, 1982, as amended at 54
FR 34980, Aug. 23, 1989]

§ 1.17 Evaluation of studies relating to
health effects of dioxin and radiation exposure.
(a) From time to time, the Secretary
shall publish evaluations of scientific
or medical studies relating to the adverse health effects of exposure to a
herbicide containing 2, 3, 7, 8
tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin
(dioxin)
and/or exposure to ionizing radiation in
the ‘‘Notices’’ section of the FEDERAL
REGISTER.
(b) Factors to be considered in evaluating scientific studies include:
(1) Whether the study’s findings are
statistically significant and replicable.
(2) Whether the study and its findings
have withstood peer review.
(3) Whether the study methodology
has been sufficiently described to permit replication of the study.
(4) Whether the study’s findings are
applicable to the veteran population of
interest.
(5) The views of the appropriate panel
of the Scientific Council of the Vet-

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