General

SBA will convene Review Panels to review, evaluate, and score all NMVC company and SSBIC applications that pass initial screening.  SBA will convene as many 3-reader Review Panels as necessary to handle all such applications.  SBA intends to have only SBA employees serve as readers on Review Panels.

Reviewing and Ranking Procedures

1.  Reviewing and evaluating applications.

Each reader will independently read, evaluate, and score each application assigned to the Review Panel of which that reader is a member.  After each reader has read all the applications assigned to his or her Review Panel and made a preliminary evaluation, the Leader of the Review Panel will convene a meeting for the purpose of discussing and/or clarifying issues raised in the applications.  Readers on a Review Panel should reveal and discuss with each other their proposed scores on each criteria with respect to each application.  After the discussion, each reader should arrive at his or her own scores for each application.  All 3 readers of an application are not required or expected to arrive at the same score for each evaluation criteria and/or category.  However, readers whose scores are significantly different from those of any other reader must note on their Reader Evaluation Form the reasons their scores diverge significantly from another reader's scores.

Each Review Panel reader is obligated to immediately disclose to and seek advice from the appropriate SBA ethics official if any application assigned to the reader presents a situation that the reader believes constitutes an actual or potential conflict of interest for the reader.  A Review Panel reader also may request to be recused from reading and evaluating an application when, for whatever reason, the reader believes he or she is unable to be impartial, objective, and fair in evaluating that application.  If a Review Panel reader is recused from reading an application, that application will be re-assigned to another Review Panel.

 
2.  Scoring by readers.

a.  Applicants for NMVC company designation.

For each application for NMVC company designation, readers must award points on 10 separate criteria, which are grouped into 3 broad categories.  See the NMVC Company Application Evaluation and Scoring System Overview for further information as to these criteria and the points assigned to each.

b.  SSBIC grant applications.

For each SSBIC application, readers must award points on 8 separate criteria, which are grouped into 3 broad categories.  See the SSBIC Operational Assistance Grant Application Evaluation and Scoring System Overview for further information as to these criteria and the points assigned to each.