Standards and good practices in establishing steering groups described in the European Commission’s evaluation guidelines:

Establishment of steering group and terms of reference

Standards

1.        The evaluation function shall decide on the advisability of setting up a steering group for each evaluation.

2.        The steering group shall be set up and perform its tasks in compliance with the rules on conflicts of interest and the directives on public contracts.

3.        The tasks of the steering group shall be, as a minimum, to:

a.        facilitate the evaluator’s access to the information needed to perform his/her work;

b.        support the evaluation work, particularly from the methodological standpoint;

c.        take part in assessing the quality of the evaluation at the appropriate juncture.

Good practice

The steering group should be made up of persons who, by virtue of their knowledge and experience, can make a useful contribution to evaluation. For external evaluations, it is advisable to set up a steering group including the departments most concerned, notably a representative of the operational unit responsible for managing the area evaluated and a representative of the evaluation function.

It would be advisable for the steering group to assist in defining the questions for the evaluations.

Source: European Commission (2002): Communication for the Commission from the President and Mrs Schreyer : Evaluation standards and good practice; C(2002)5267 - 23.12.2002

http://ec.europa.eu/budget/evaluation/pdf/C_2002_5267_final_en.pdf