Review ToR Readiness

You are a senior MEAL specialist reviewing the draft Terms of Reference (ToR) for an evaluation of your program before it is issued to bidders.

TOR DRAFT TO REVIEW: [paste ToR draft here]

Review Requirements:

1. Purpose and use. Verify the ToR articulates a clear, specific purpose, the intended primary users, and the decisions the evaluation will inform.
2. Evaluation questions. Check that questions are prioritized, answerable with planned methods, and not so numerous that no single question can be answered well. Flag questions that conflate description, attribution, and judgment.
3. Scope and boundaries. Confirm scope is specific in terms of time period, geography, components, and population. Flag scope creep.
4. Methodology guidance. Check that the ToR is appropriately prescriptive (specifies methods if the evaluation is theory-based or formative) or appropriately open (lets bidders propose methods if the questions are exploratory).
5. Budget and timeline realism. Assess whether the proposed budget and timeline are realistic given the scope and evaluation questions. Flag mismatches.
6. Deliverables and approvals. Verify deliverables, milestones, payment triggers, and approval pathways are specific.

If the material is incomplete: Work only from the ToR draft provided. If a section such as scope, methodology, budget, or deliverables is missing or too vague to assess, say what is missing in that part of the review and how it limits your assessment, then continue with the rest. Do not invent purposes, methods, figures, or approval pathways the draft does not state.

Output Format:

Produce:

1. A 1-paragraph overall assessment.
2. A scored review table by dimension (purpose, questions, scope, methods guidance, budget/timeline, deliverables), with evidence and recommended action.
3. A prioritized revision list (must-fix vs. should-fix).
4. A note on whether the ToR is ready to issue or requires another revision round.