Section 2650.130  Application Evaluation

The Department shall screen all applications to determine that all requirements of the application package have been addressed.  Complete applications will be reviewed and evaluated comparatively by Department staff.  This review and evaluation process will be completed within 75 days after receipt of all required information.  Department staff will conduct a technical and financial evaluation of each application.

a)         Technical Evaluation Component – Each application will be reviewed to assure compliance with technical program requirements as detailed in Sections 2650.30 and 2650.120.

b)         Financial Evaluation Component – The company's audited financial statements, including the annual balance sheets and profit and loss statements for the past three years, or other acceptable financial information as determined by the Department, will be reviewed through a standard credit analysis which will determine the:  liquidity and debt coverage for the project; ability of the company to manage debt; business trends; and projected earnings.  This standard credit analysis will determine the financial stability of the company.

c)         Application Evaluation – Those applications determined eligible for funding based on the evaluation process described in subsections (a) and (b), will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

1)         Project readiness (e.g., time schedule for project initiation, etc.);

2)         Average wage rate of trainees;

3)         New capital investment (e.g., training directly relates to jobs, etc.) and capital investment per trainee;

4)         Applicant has identified specific and measurable training objectives;

5)         Financial feasibility of the project as determined by the financial evaluation described in subsection (b);

6)         Compliance with terms and conditions under previous Employer Training Investment Program grant awards;

7)         County unemployment rate;

8)         Applicant is adversely affected by foreign competition or training would provide company an advantage in competing in a global market;

9)         Quality and consistency of the proposed training program;

10)         Illinois-based company;

11)         Level of value-added for the specific industry;

12)         Industries specified in annual application packages; and

13)         Located in a State-designated enterprise zone.

(Source:  Amended at 35 Ill. Reg. 18623, effective October 28, 2011)