LSC has issued revised program performance criteria, which LSC uses to evaluate programs generally and during the competitive grant process. Programs also are encouraged to use the criteria for self-evaluations. When LSC issued the original program performance criteria 12 years ago, the civil legal aid landscape has changed considerably. The 1996 restrictions, shrinking federal appropriations, program mergers, the closing of back-up centers, new technology, and state-wide planning committees have changed the way legal services programs operate. According to LSC, the revised criteria are intended to ensure that legal services programs continue to provide high-quality representation to their clients in this new world of legal services. The introduction to the criteria states, "The Criteria now reflect the importance of [state-wide, inter-program] coordination and planning. . . . The Criteria are designed [among other things] to take account of the reality that Legal Services programs do not have sufficient resources to provide comprehensive services that fully meet all of the major civil legal needs of low-income people in an entire service area."

The revised criteria are available on the web at http://www.lsc.gov/pdfs/LSCPerformanceCriteria.pdf.