Section 2650.330  Application Evaluation

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

a)         Technical/Programmatic Evaluation Component – Each application shall be reviewed to assure compliance with technical program requirements as detailed in Section 2650.30.

b)         Application Evaluation – Those applications determined eligible for funding based on the evaluation process described in subsection (a) shall be evaluated according to the following criteria:

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

2)         The number of participating companies and the number of employees of those participating companies who will receive training;

3)         The cost effectiveness of the training (e.g., cost per trainee or cost per business);

4)         New capital investment by participating companies;

5)         How closely the training is related to the nature of the business process and the transferability of the skills obtained from the training;

6)         Other significant benefits or impact (e.g., project is for high technology, quality and/or productivity improvements or export oriented, job retention or improving business competitiveness);

7)         Level of performance by applicant organization and/or participating employers under previous Employer Training Investment  Program grant awards;

8)         Evaluation measures utilized to determine the effectiveness of the training (e.g., the identification of quantifiable training outcome measures);

9)         Extent to which the project demonstrates that it is employer driven;

10)         In making grant awards to original equipment manufacturers (OEM) for supplier training programs, the Director shall take into consideration the extent to which applications: demonstrate advanced consultation between organized labor and management; specify procedures that provide equitable access to training for existing supplier firms; and demonstrate that the proposed training will not result in the transfer of work from the OEM to supplier firms that, in turn, results in the displacement of the OEM's existing labor force.  Notwithstanding these considerations, the Department may make grant awards if both labor and management support the award.  The Department shall make grant awards to OEMs for supplier training only when those awards will not negatively impact the labor-management relationship.  Further, the Department shall retain the responsibility to review and approve the final curricula and list of supplier firms to receive training under all grant awards; and

11)       Extent to which the applicant has demonstrated the impact of the training on the regional economy.

(Source:  Amended at 29 Ill. Reg. 10047, effective June 28, 2005)