7. Basis for Review and Award of Consortia Grants

An evaluation team comprised of Communications Division staff will assess all completed applications in each of the following areas: (1) Regional Consortium Representation and Endorsements; (2) Regional Consortium / Members' Experience; (3) Action Plan; (4) Work Plan; and (5) Budget.

We agree with TURN's recommendation that the applicant secure endorsements from critical stakeholders other than governmental institutions. Letters of endorsements should also be obtained from community-based organizations, schools, hospitals, libraries, businesses and consumers. This additional requirement will address DRA's concern that the application be made public since the regional Consortium applicant will have to disclose to the affected community / area its intent to apply for a Consortia grant to obtain the community support/endorsements.

Applicants will be objectively evaluated on how well they meet the goals of the CASF Consortia program. This scoring method will be used on all completed applications submitted by the given deadline. Judgment will be rendered in the form of a numerical score. All applicants will be assigned a score.

Those applicants who meet a minimum score of 70 points (out of a possible 100 points) will be considered for funding. Funding will be reserved to only one Regional Consortium per region. If said scoring criteria threshold is not met in any region(s), no award will be disbursed for said region(s) and as a result, a second application process for said region(s) will be required and announced to the service list and posted on the Commission website at http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/PUC/Telco/Information+for+providing+service/CASFConsortiaGrant.htm. Where multiple Consortia apply for the same region only the applicant in a region who has the highest score will be considered for an award. The scoring criteria and the points allocated to each criterion are shown in Attachment G.

The Commission will issue approval of qualifying Consortia applications, together with the grant amount per Consortium, through a Commission resolution(s). The Commission's grant of any award is subject to satisfaction of the conditions set forth in this decision, and any additional conditions that may be specified in the Commission resolution approving a grant. Each grant is made expressly only to the Consortium grantee as identified in the Commission resolution. The grantee may not assign the project in whole or in part, except as expressly provided by the Commission's approval as discussed in Section 10.