15 – EVALUATION AND AWARD PROCEDURE

1. The evaluation process is based on pre-defined criteria and technical characteristics of the storage system. The criteria are included in the Online Manual and guidelines that will be available on the Digital Platform. The evaluation process includes:
   1. pre-qualification approval: projects at this stage will be assessed based on specific criteria outlined in Paragraph 12, before advancing to the subsequent phase. Only projects that are fulfilling both administrative and technical criteria will be permitted to move forward to the bidding contest, the next stage in the selection process;
   2. applicant’s eligibility (considering financial capabilities, residence, and document completeness);
   3. technical offer’s eligibility of the proposal evaluated based on the provided technical criteria; and
   4. ranking of the financial bids.
2. The evaluation criteria are attached in Annex II technical characteristics.
3. The proposals for Part A, will have to follow the submission and evaluation procedure (two-stage submission and two-step evaluation).
   1. Part A: Documents to be submitted at the prequalification approval stage:
      1. A copy of the Ownership Title Certificates for all land plots where the project is to be constructed. In case the landowner is not the applicant, written consent from the owner or a certified rental/lease agreement must be provided.
      2. Map from the Department of Land Registry for the proposed plots.
      3. Licence or Exemption Power Plant Construction Licence from the Regulator.
      4. Recent Copy of the Company’s Directors Certificate from the Registrar of Companies
      5. Signed Declaration that the proposed power plant is not already induced in another Support Scheme.
      6. Building Permit for the Power Plant in effect (if it is available at the time the application is submitted)
      7. Application for a Building Permit (if it is available at the time the application is submitted)
      8. Planning Permit in effect (if it is available at the time the application is submitted).
      9. Planning Permit Applications (if it is available at the time the application is submitted).
   2. Part B: Documents required for submission to the relevant Operator for conducting commissioning checks on the proposed power plant.
      1. An active Planning Permit for the proposed project, as required by law;
      2. An active Building Permit for the project; and
      3. A Building Permit for the project’s substation, if applicable.

4. After pre-qualification approval, the Committee will conduct checks on the proposals for administrative requirements, focusing on admissibility and eligibility. Proposals found admissible and eligible will be evaluated against the operational capacity, technical eligibility regarding the proposed storage component and then ranked according to the lowest price Successful proposals will be invited for grant preparation; the other ones will be put on the reserve list or rejected.
5. No commitment for funding: Invitation to grant preparation does NOT constitute a formal commitment for funding. MECI will still need to make various legal checks before grant award: legal entity validation, financial capacity, exclusion check, ultimate beneficiary owners, etc.
6. Grant preparation will involve a dialogue to finetune technical aspects of the project and may require extra information. It may also include adjustments to the proposal to address recommendations of the evaluation committee or other concerns (such as adaptation of the grant due to additional funding received from other sources). Compliance will be a pre-condition for signing the grant. If an applicant believes that the evaluation procedure was flawed, it can submit a complaint (following the deadlines and procedures set out in the evaluation result letter). Please note that notifications which have not been opened within 10 days after sending are considered to have been accessed and that deadlines will be counted from opening/access (see also Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions). Please also be aware that for complaints submitted electronically, there may be character limitations.
7. Regarding the financial evaluation and ranking of financial bids:
   1. For Part A of the Scheme, Category 1 & 2, the evaluation of investment aid distribution occurs through the following steps:
      1. The total investment aid requested is calculated for all eligible bids. If the total amount of investment aid requested by all applicants within a specific category falls below the budget allocated for that category, only 80% of the total requested investment sum will be granted.
      2. Eligible offers are then organized in ascending order based on the values of the applicants’ bid storage costs (this step is conducted only for financially eligible offers).
      3. Investment aid is assigned to project proposals until the sum under 1) is depleted. Funding is awarded until the remaining sum is enough to cover the requested investment amount for each candidate, otherwise, it is set to zero.
      4. The last project application that could be partially funded by the available funding receives an individual request for project resizing which can be rejected with no penalty of the applicant.
      5. In case of equal bids in Part A of the Scheme, the following rules for the bid ranking apply:
         1. First criteria: Sort by storage cost in ascending order. If bids are still equal, proceed to the second criterion.
         2. Second criteria: Rank bids based on generation and storage cost per kWh injected power in ascending order as per FiT price (lowest prices will have an advantage).
         3. Third criteria: Sort by the size of the RES power plants (from lowest to highest) to encourage competition and increase the number of awarded projects.
         4. Fourth criteria: This applies exclusively to FiT facilities and favours newer plants based on their commercial operation date, with an advantage given to the most recently operational facilities based on their years of service.

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