MCC Impact Evaluation Services 2005-2012

The Millennium Challenge Corporation established this Master IDIQ on December 4, 2004 to procure independent impact evaluations of its economic development programs using rigorous research methods; ordering closed on January 22, 2013, and the vehicle is no longer active. A successor vehicle, MCC Impact Evaluation Services 2010-2015, was awarded July 12, 2010 and is the current contracting mechanism.

Nineteen task orders totaling $20.9 million in combined potential value were issued between June 2006 and March 2010. The vehicle is fully obligated at $19 million (91% of potential value), with performance concentrated in the 2006–2008 period (15 orders), followed by a sharp decline to two orders per year in 2009–2010. Task orders funded impact evaluation design and implementation services for MCC programs across multiple countries, including infrastructure assessments in El Salvador, randomized-trial evaluations in Benin and Georgia, and program evaluations in Namibia, Rwanda, Madagascar, Tanzania, Mali, Niger, Lesotho, and Burkina Faso. All orders were priced on a time-and-materials basis.

Competition is concentrated among six primes. National Opinion Research Center and Mathematica Inc. dominate: together they hold 12 of 19 orders and $14.9 million of the $20.9 million combined potential value (71%). Innovations For Poverty Action (3 orders, $3.6 million), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2 orders, $1.3 million), Social Impact Inc. (1 order, $783 thousand), and one additional prime round out the portfolio. All task orders funded MCC directly; no other agencies placed orders under the vehicle. No set-aside designations were used.

Individual task-order ceilings ranged from $86,114 to $2.6 million, with the largest single award to National Opinion Research Center for $2.6 million for consulting services using randomized trials. Most awards completed by 2011; the final order, a Namibia impact evaluation to Innovations For Poverty Action, concluded December 31, 2011.

The MCC has a requirement for independent evaluations of its programs from recognized experts in the field of economic development research using the most rigorous methods practicable.