Section 270.40  Membership and Operations of the Scientific Review Committee

a)         The Scientific Review Committee shall develop specific objectives and internal procedures necessary to receive grant applications, review grant applications and form recommendations to the Department;

b)         The committee shall serve without compensation;

c)         The Scientific Review Committee shall consist of:

1)         the Clinical Director of the Department's Division of Developmental Disabilities, or designee, who shall serve as Chair and who shall only vote in case of a tie among the members of the Scientific Review Committee, so long as a quorum of 5 members (including the Chair) is present and voting;

2)         the Clinical Director of the Department's Division of Mental Health, or designee;

3)         one doctoral level psychologist who is an employee of the Division of Developmental Disabilities, appointed by the Director of the Division of Developmental Disabilities;

4)         one doctoral level psychologist who is an employee of the Division of Mental Health, appointed by the Director of the Division of Mental Health;

5)         one employee of the Division of Developmental Disabilities who has two or more years experience in direct clinical services, appointed by the Director of the Division of Developmental Disabilities;

6)         one employee of the Division of Mental Health who has two or more years experience in direct clinical services, appointed by the Director of the Division of Mental Health; and

7)         two representatives from the Autism Task Force, to be selected by the Autism Task Force.

d)         The Scientific Review Committee's review and recommendations must consider and address the following items:

1)         a statement of the research question or hypothesis, or a description of interventions or model programs upon which the research will be based;

2)         a prioritized listing of measurable objectives for the project;

3)         for each objective proposed for the project, a sequential listing of activities to achieve the objective, the time line for completing each activity, and identification of the individual responsible for coordinating the implementation of each objective; and

4)         a description of the evaluation methods to be used to measure progress in achieving objectives and a plan for monitoring the overall project.

e)         DHS will choose not to act on a Scientific Review Committee recommendation in the following circumstances:

1)         an entity recommended to receive a grant is identified by the DHS Office of Contracts as an entity whose contract with DHS has been terminated within the 10 years prior to the entity's application for failure to comply with contractual terms; or

2)         an entity recommended to receive a grant is identified by the DHS Office of Contracts as an entity with whom DHS has refused to contract within the 10 years prior to the entity's application for any reason other than inadequate appropriation funds.