The IEO will prepare an issues paper and/or more detailed draft Terms of Reference for each study, identifying the questions to be addressed and also, to the extent practicable, the methodology. Comments on those documents will be sought from the IMF staff/management and member country governments (especially in the case of evaluations involving individual countries). The issues papers and/or draft terms of reference will also be posted on IEO’s website to elicit comments from external observers. The final Terms of Reference, as determined by IEO after these consultations, will be posted on the website.

The IEO evaluation team will conduct its own research and will interact with concerned parties inside and outside the Fund. For evaluations involving individual countries, it is expected that consultations will be held in situ with the authorities and with others. The evaluation team will also be open to receive inputs on substantive issues covered by the terms of reference from interested parties wishing to make submissions. The IEO’s website will be used to receive written comments.

Publication of evaluations will be accompanied by comments from IMF management and staff and from country authorities where appropriate, along with the conclusions reached by the Board in considering the evaluation reports.

Once an evaluation report is made public, external stakeholders will be given an opportunity (within a specified period) to make formal comments on the report. As part of IEO’s outreach strategy, more easily readable summaries for a broader public will also be prepared, and an outreach conference will be organized to discuss each report after publication.

The IEO Annual Report will set out the main conclusions and recommendations of evaluation reports completed during the year. It will provide an opportunity to assess the progress made in implementing specific recommendations and in tackling issues identified in earlier evaluations. It will also include a summary of suggestions for evaluation topics received from within and outside the Fund, along with a discussion of priorities set by IEO and a summary of Executive Board discussions of the whole program.

Within three years of the launch of the IEO's operations, the Executive Board will initiate an external evaluation of the IEO. That review will solicit broad-based input from within and outside the official community.