The Cooperative Biological Engagement Program (CBEP) within the Department of Defense (DoD) is part of the larger Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program that was initiated at the end of the Cold War in the former Soviet Union (FSU) but now has expanded beyond that legacy to address current biological threats of mutual interest to the United States and 20 partner countries in different regions around the world. In recent years, the biological mission has become an increasingly significant component of DoD’s CTR program, and according to DoD’s plans for CTR, this emphasis is projected to grow. As CBEP has evolved...

This chapter describes our approach to using a conceptual framework to develop metrics to monitor CBEP program performance. At each level of management, the demand for metrics is motivated by the need to explain how actions lead to anticipated results. The development and application of logic models underpinned our efforts, although alternative approaches could also have achieved this goal. The logic model approach establishes a logical sequence from program inputs to activities; outputs; outcomes; and, ultimately, impacts. The logic model approach also allows the framework to be used to support aggregation of metrics as needed for decision-making at several levels,...

A primary objective of CBEP is to support the safety and security of facilities that house pathogens of security concern by enhancing sustainable partner capability for biorisk management.¹ CBEP definesbiorisk managementas the management of risks of harm arising from biological agents. A biorisk is a combination of the probability of occurrence of harm and the severity of that harm where the source of harm is a biological agent or toxin. The source of harm may be an unintentional exposure, accidental release or “loss, theft, misuse, diversion of, unauthorized access or intentional unauthorized release” (CBEP, undated). Biorisks of the...

Biosurveillance has become an integral component of CBEP programming. It brings together priorities for capacity building and collection of disease-related data (including CBR) within the context of the WHO IHR, an internationally binding treaty to which nearly all countries are signatories (WHO, 2005). It calls for each country to strengthen and maintain a set of specified “core capacities” (Table 4.1) to detect, diagnose, report, and respond to public health emergencies potentially of international concern and for countries in a position to do so to help others strengthen their core capacities. CBEP works with partner countries to help them build their...

This work builds on substantial existing efforts related to measurement that will greatly facilitate implementation. Data collected for MAP, for example, means that CBEP already collects a significant fraction of the data required for recommended metrics. Despite such strides, implementation of a new evaluation framework will require additional time, effort, and resources. For example, existing CBEP data and bases for evaluation are better developed to date for biorisk management than for biosurveillance. This means that implementation of the biorisk metrics will require focusing more attention on scoring and testing the metrics than on data collection. This chapter discusses issues related...

The preceding chapters of this report described a set of 47 metrics that tell a comprehensive story about the state of sustainable capacities and capabilities for biorisk management and biosurveillance in CBEP partner countries. Despite the fact that this set represents a concise picture selected from a larger set of nearly 300, making sense of a set of 47 metrics is challenging. The utility of this set of metrics is in part determined by whether it helps answer the following question: “What is CBEP accomplishing?”

Of course, there is no one answer to this relatively simple question. How it is...

We developed an evaluation framework, including metrics, for assessing the progress of CBEP activities in partner countries toward achievement of two main program objectives. This effort suggested conclusions in the specific case of CBEP, as well as broader conclusions related to using logic models as a foundation for measurement. We have provided recommendations toward implementing the framework in phases and suggested additional analyses that could help increase the effectiveness of CBEP programming.

This work has built on substantial existing efforts related to measurement that will greatly facilitate implementation. The work CBEP, CTR, and experts outside the U.S. government, such as...