I was once upon a time my director's assistant in going through proposals under a sort of peer review of existing programs and new proposed programs. By carefulling reading the narrative and examining the budget in some detail we could easily tell if this was bullshit or real. I admit a significant number were quasi-bullshit, not on target, but close enough ... for government work. We were part of a review process and didn't have the final say. The central DC offices had that, which meant that if a program was politically connected, they might get by
In those days, the particular proposals involved the first phase of integration of disable children and youth into public education. The same OE section handled both disabled and non-disabled, minority and otherwise disadvantage, i.e. low income. I loved those first few years. Build a public service delivery model and see it through.
One of the keys to success, is to promote from the population you serve because they are the ones who know what works and what doesn't. So my first director was a French Lit PhD drop out. He went to Paris in 1968 for his summer field work, but of course he couldn't into the Sorbonne or the National Library or any of the other institutions. He had his attendent do the leg work. What a cool job was that? The expenses for the support and trip came from the California Dept of Vocational Rehabilitation with a small stipend from UCB.
People we could have paradise.
Nevermind.
CG