Board Decisions

GF/B12/DP12

Approved by the Board on: 16 December 2005


Phase 2 Decision-Making Policies and Procedures

1. The Board may commit funds for Phase 2 renewals (up to the full duration of a proposal) up to the cumulative uncommitted amount pledged through the calendar year of the Board decision.

2. The Board makes funding decisions for Phase 2 renewals based on its review of Secretariat or Technical Review Panel (TRP) recommendations, according to procedures agreed by the Board.

3. The Secretariat or TRP will present the Board with its recommendations on the first of every month (notice to Board constituencies of a recommendation shall be effective upon the posting of the recommendation on the Global Fund website; the Secretariat will inform Board constituencies via e-mail when recommendations have been posted). The Board will vote by email on each recommendation on a no-objection basis. Votes must be received by the Secretariat no later than the tenth of the same month.

4. In exceptional circumstances, the Secretariat may need to take more than 20 months to provide a Phase 2 recommendation to the Board. In such situations, the Secretariat may extend, at no cost, the term of Phase 1 grant agreements by up to six months. The Secretariat shall inform the Board immediately upon taking action under this decision.

5. If the Secretariat decides to issue a "No Go" recommendation, it shall give notice of that intention and the reasons for it to the relevant CCM and allow that CCM four weeks to comment on the information submitted to it by the Secretariat. 

6. The Secretariat shall review and consider the information provided by the CCM, and then make its recommendation to the Board. The information provided by the CCM shall be made available to the Board.  

7. A Board decision in favor of a Secretariat or TRP recommendation either:

  • commits additional resources in the amount proposed in the recommendation (in the case of recommendations of "Go," "Conditional Go," and "Revised Go"); or
  • does not commit any additional resources (in the case of recommendations of "No Go"), thereby discontinuing the proposal after Phase 1.

8. If the Board does not decide in favor of a Secretariat or TRP recommendation, this would serve to request further clarification on the recommendation and ask the Secretariat or TRP to reassess its recommendation. To facilitate the clarifications process, those Board constituencies that are not ready to decide in favor of a Secretariat or TRP recommendation would provide a written explanation that is made publicly available. The Secretariat or TRP will review its recommendation in light of the questions and comments of those Board constituencies and will then present a second recommendation on the first day of the subsequent month (unless time-constraints make it necessary to wait to the month thereafter). The Board then votes again, on the second Secretariat or TRP recommendation, using the procedures described above.

9. A Board decision in favor of the second Secretariat or TRP recommendation either:

  • Commits additional resources in the amount proposed in the recommendation (in the case of recommendations of "Go," "Conditional Go," and "Revised Go"); or
  • Does not commit any additional resources (in the case of recommendations of "No Go"), thereby discontinuing the proposal after Phase 1.

10. In the event that (i) the Board rejects a first "No Go" recommendation, (ii) the Secretariat issues a second "No Go" recommendation to the Board and (iii) the Board rejects the Secretariat's second "No Go" recommendation, the matter shall be referred to an independent panel, which shall assess the specific areas where the Board and the Secretariat differ on their assessment of the grant and report its conclusions to the Board. 

11. The composition of the Independent Panel will be based on the following principles:

  • Size: Two senior members supported by 1-2 contracted analysts, as appropriate;
  • Independence: Potential conflict of interest should be taken into consideration in selecting these members;
  • Profile of Senior Members: The team of senior members should have a solid understanding of country processes;
  • Profile of Analysts: Analysts should have the capability to fully understand GF principles and procedures;
  • Identification of Candidates: Pool of pre-qualified candidates for Senior Members and Analysts is identified through partners, including WHO, UNAIDS and the World Bank. A list of these candidates is compiled by the Secretariat and each candidate submits a CV to the file for review. A proposed "reserve list" will be compiled based on this selection process;
  • Selection of Panel: The list of tentative candidates will be submitted to the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Board and the Chair and Vice-Chair of the PC. The selection of the Senior Members and Analysts of the independent panel shall be carried out by the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Board in consultation with the Chair and Vice-Chair of the PC;
  • Panel members (Senior members and contracted analysts) will be remunerated; and
  • The Secretariat will facilitate the process.

12. The Independent Panel's scope of work will be based on the following principles:

  • The objective of the external assessment will be to submit conclusions to the Board based on all information put forth by the CCM, PR, Secretariat and Board constituencies;
  • The analysis shall include a chronology of information provided, a typology of the content and an analysis of the source and flow of information;
  • The assessment shall take into consideration the different arguments analyzing how they refer to each other, highlighting areas of agreement and disagreement, and defining the areas which have not been previously addressed by the parties involved; and
  • The Independent Panel shall report to the Board no later than six weeks after receipt of the relevant information from the Secretariat.

13. The final decision on making a funding commitment will be made at the next Board meeting.

14. In circumstances in which insufficient resources remain in Phase 1 to cover financing needs until any Board decision in the Phase 2 procedure can be operationalized, the Board authorizes the Secretariat to extend the terms of the grants by up to six months, and to provide bridge funding for such grants as appropriate. The Board authorizes the Secretariat to commit up to a maximum of one-half of the first year budget contained in the Request for Continued Funding in question for these purposes, which would be financed by utilizing the Phase 2 renewal funding of the proposal. The actual amount committed by the Secretariat would be based primarily on the performance and disbursement patterns in Phase 1.

15. For proposals for which the Board commits Phase 2 funds, a sufficient amount of assets to cover the full costs of the extension of the Grant Agreement must be deposited with the Trustee or readily available on demand prior to the Secretariat extending a Grant Agreement.

16. The Technical Reference Group (TERG) will regularly review and report on the soundness of the Phase 2 review and decision process to the Board through the Portfolio Committee. 

17. The Phase 2 decisions will typically be taken based on recommendations that are made 20 months after the Program Starting Date (exceptions could include for situations of force majeure). The decision may be taken earlier in cases of (i) accelerated implementation; or (ii) severe exchange rate fluctuations.

18. These procedures for the Board commitment of funds for Phase 2 are subject to a time-limited trial period. The Board asks the Portfolio Committee to review these procedures or should adopt an alternative set of procedures. Based on these recommendations the Board will reconsider the procedures at the Thirteenth Board Meeting.