CES has launched a request for proposal for the evaluation of the Professional Designation Program (PDP) and its Credentialed Evaluator (CE) designation. This designation will take place during the fifth year of activity of the program.

The evalution issues are:

1. What expectations do the various stakeholders – CES members (with and without the CE designation), evaluation clients, CES itself – have of the Professional Designation Program? To what extent are their expectations being met?
2. To what extent has the program reached its intended audiences?
3. To what extent do those commissioning evaluations find that the participation by one or more CEs has had an impact on the quality of evaluations? Are there any variations by sector (e.g., government, not-for-profit)?
4. In what ways have reflective processes needed to demonstrate and maintain the CE had an impact on the evaluator’s practice? What other impacts do they attribute to these processes?
5. What, if any, are unintended consequences of the PDP / CE? Are these positive (e.g., promotion of evaluation)? Negative (e.g., exclusion of groups; constrained innovation)? How and why have these occurred? Do they have implications for program re-design?
6. What aspects of the program are working well, for whom, and in what ways? Are there program design features that need adjustment (competencies, selection criteria and application and maintenance process, communications, etc.)?
7. What are the necessary success conditions for sustainability and growth of the program? (E.g., relationship with employers; access to evaluation experts into the future to review applications). Is the program financially viable?

Proposals are due by January 9, 2015.