Committee discusses RFP to assess long-term GO Virginia impacts and whether to require ROI calculations

Sarah presented a draft RFP intended to respond to a program-evaluation recommendation in the JRF report and asked the committee whether GO Virginia should require ROI calculations for awards above a certain dollar threshold.

She described the proposed RFP scope: identify a research partner to sample the 138 closed projects, ensure distribution by region and project type, and examine which investment strategies produce sustained impacts. "We're recommending we identify a research partner to help us do this project," Sarah said, and noted funding could come from DHCD administrative funds.

Staff reviewed the current simple ROI template, which projects fiscal returns to the Commonwealth at three and five years using applicant inputs for jobs and wages. Sarah said the template is illustrative and that past use of third-party consultants to validate inputs produced useful but sometimes delayed results. "There were actually delays in the input validation," she said, describing timing issues when third-party work was not ready to accompany applications.

James demonstrated an internally developed break-even analysis tool that staff has been testing. The tool shows year-by-year fiscal positions and can highlight when a project would move from negative net fiscal effect to positive. Committee members discussed practical challenges with ROI for workforce projects (for example, converting trainees to new jobs) and resource constraints: staff noted administrative budgets for program administration have not increased since 2017, limiting funds for external consultants.

The committee did not adopt a dollar threshold or a single method at this meeting. Members asked staff to bring additional data and to convene in a virtual meeting in May to continue deliberations.