STUDENT 1: Williams
Good Day Classmates,
This week was a little challenging to completely understand the question of, “What is an appraisal”.I started by reading Chapter 1 of Evaluation: A Systematic Approach, 7th Edition and thought that Program Appraisal was mostly about Program Evaluation.Then I read through Chapters 7 and 19 of the Managing Federal Government Contracts: The Answer Book and turned my focus more towards contract inspection, acceptance and performance evaluation. My hope in the following paragraph is that I can provide some valuable information about program appraisal or look forward to the feedback to learn from others to increase my knowledge of program management.
My understanding in working in DoD contracting is that the contractors and government both have roles, responsibilities, objectives and characteristics of program appraisal to ensure that the Federal Government are receiving quality supplies, services and construction to accomplish the mission.My thoughts are that program evaluation and program appraisal are interchangeable.I am going to focus on Chapter 19 of the Managing Federal Government Contracts: The Answer Book because I spend a lot of my time at my current job trying to get Past Performance Evaluations completed annually for contracts with base and options and at the end of the contract for those contracts that exceed the Simplified Acquisition Threshold of $250,000.The timeliness and clarity of the past performance evaluations is important to source selection officials and technical evaluation boards that are required to evaluate past performance to make informed business decisions on the companies who meet or exceed the evaluation criteria to be eligible for government contracts and orders.For example, I am currently working with a customer to Terminate for Default a contractor who failed to perform in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contract.This termination will directly affect the contractor’s performance rating and future business opportunities with the Government.
In Chapter 19, Question 420 of the Managing Federal Government Contracts:The Answer Book there is reference to the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS).On July 15, 2018, the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) and PPIRS application were combined.Information about CPARS/PPIRS can be found at https://www.cpars.gov/pdfs/CPARS-Guidance.pdf. This is a valuable application to assist in evaluating contractors performance.
STUDENT 2: DANIQUE
Program Appraisal is a comprehensive analysis of a program that involves either quantitative or qualitative data. In my research of this topic I quickly realized why we were asked to include our sources as there is very little information on this precise topic. Many of the results from our university library equated the subject to performance evaluation. This comparison helped me to decide Program Appraisal is a wellness check to the program that looks at all aspects of the program at its operational level, effectiveness, efficiency and cost benefit analysis. Program Appraisal and Program Evaluation is essentially one in the same, a review or assessment of something.
My experience with Program Appraisal comes in regard to the Sexual Assault Response Program (SARP). I reviewed the program and monitored it changes from 2004-2012. Tracking the laws, number of incidences, cases along with the outcomes. My research and appraisal of the program inquired to find out if the actions taken by SAPR resulted in reduce incidences. The empirical data helped me to conclude that offering different reporting options, awareness of resources, and concern and trust in the command directly caused the increase of reporting’s and increased reporting’s did not correlate to increase sexual assaults but more so members believed the command and leaders would act in a way that was supportive of victims held no tolerance to perpetrators.
The Chang article Evaluation of a critical appraisal program for clinical nurses: a controlled before and after study. Using the best evidence of care known before and after studies were conducted to assess the nurses during this trial period. This was a controlled study using lectures, questionnaires. As a result to the process confidence and knowledge increased improving the practice of nursing care.
Chang, S., Huang, C., Chen, S., Liao, Y., Lin, C., Wang, H., & Chang, S. (2013). Evaluation of a critical appraisal program for clinical nurses: a controlled before-and-after study. Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 44(1), 43–48. https://doi.org/10.3928/00220124-20121101-51
