2. pants

Selection of

sub projects

2.1 Institutional set-up:

The SIF Council shall act as a

Steering Committee for the operation and shall approve or reject

applications. The SIF Council is appointed and approved by the

Cabinet of Ministers and consists of representatives from line

ministries, regional authorities and from the NGO community in

Latvia. The Chairman of the Council is selected by its members.

The Evaluation Committee, appointed by the SIF Council, will

carry out the quality assessment of applications for grants. The

Evaluation Committee consists of members from the Intermediary

and external experts. The application form and standard grant

contract with annexes shall be approved by the Director of SIF.

The Director of SIF has the signatory powers of the Fund and

functions as the executer of State budget allocated for Fund. The

grant contract with the end-recipient shall be signed by the

Director of SIF.

2.2 Selection process and

procedures:

The availability of grants from

the Fund shall be announced in an open call. All applications

shall be examined and evaluated by the Intermediary in accordance

with the administrative and eligibility criteria. The qualitative

and financial evaluation of the applications shall be carried out

by the Evaluation Committee. The Evaluation Committee may involve

external experts in the evaluation of applications' quality and

financial aspects. The Evaluation Committee shall provide a

ranked list of projects for approval by the SIF Council.

The Intermediary shall inform

applicants whose applications are rejected about the reasons for

the rejection. Applicant whose application is rejected due to

non-compliance with administrative or eligibility criteria can

request the Intermediary to review its decision. The applicant

shall submit such a request within 10 days from being notified

about the rejection and shall provide reasons for why the

decision should be overturned.

2.3 Selection criteria:

Selection and evaluation criteria

involve administrative, eligibility, qualitative and financial

checklists where scores are given to each criterion. The

qualitative and financial evaluation criteria focus on the

applicants' capacity to implement the project, the level of

complexity/innovativeness, relevance and the economic feasibility

of the project.

During the review of the

administrative and eligibility criteria, the Intermediary may ask

the applicant to provide additional information or

clarification.

The evaluation of the quality of

applications, including the proposed budget, shall be carried out

in accordance with the evaluation criteria set out in the

evaluation grid. The Evaluation Committee evaluates projects

grouping them to two months periods according to the time of

submission.

2.4 Open calls and availability of

funds (including number of calls, duration of calls, and

estimated size):

Grants from the Fund shall be made

available for preparation of individual projects to be submitted

during the second open call in Latvia. The Intermediary shall

organise one call for applications for sub-projects. The duration

of the call shall not be less than two months.