Data Released Regarding Round 5 Proposals
Author:
Bernard Rivers
Article Type:Article Number: 1
ABSTRACT 173 proposals were submitted in Round 5. Preliminary estimates by the Secretariat suggest that the cost of the first two years of grants might be $1.25 billion, more than in any previous Round.
Round 5 could be the most expensive round of Global Fund grants ever, according to data released by the Global Fund. Preliminary estimates by the Secretariat suggest that the cost of the first two years of grants under Round 5 might be $1.25 billion, compared with the previous estimate of $1.0 billion.
By the Round 5 deadline of 10 June, 173 proposals had been received, with a total 2-year cost of $3.56 billion. (See table below.) This is significantly fewer proposals than the 320 received for Round 4. However, in Round 4, the Secretariat had to “screen out” nearly half the proposals before passing the proposals to the Technical Review Panel (TRP) for consideration, because many were submitted by ineligible countries or organizations, or did not relate to the three diseases. In Round 5, the Secretariat is assuming that perhaps only ten percent will have to be screened out, because the application form now makes it very clear what types of applications are ineligible.
The proposals received from Eastern Europe and from South and West Asia were significantly smaller (averaging $6 million per proposal) than those from other regions (averaging $27 m. per proposal).
The dollar value of proposals received from East Asia and the Pacific, Eastern Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean totaled only 13% of the total, whereas those regions have 27% of the total value of all current grants.
Malaria proposals totaled 24% of the total dollar value, down from the 30% that malaria grants represent of the value of all current grants.
If ten percent of the Round 5 proposals are screened out by the Secretariat before submission to the TRP, and if the TRP then recommends 39% of the proposals (by dollar value) for approval (as in Round 4), and if the board approved all those that the TRP recommended (as in all previous rounds), this would lead to Round 5 approved grants having an approved two-year cost of $1.25 billion, $250 million more than the original forecast.
However, the percentage of proposals screened out may be more than the 10% that the Secretariat estimates, because this is the first Round in which a proposal can be screened out because it is submitted by a CCM that does not comply with new CCM requirements. On the other hand, the TRP might recommend more than 39% of the proposals that it considers, as a result of applicants now having a much better idea of what to include in a proposal, and because of the increased amounts of technical assistance to which they have access. One knowledgeable insider estimated that Round 5 might therefore cost nearer to $1.5 billion.
The TRP will evaluate the Round 5 proposals from July 25 to August 5, and the board will make its decisions at its next meeting, September 28-30. Decisions will be announced on September 30.
Table: Breakdown of Round 5 proposals submitted to the Global Fund,
prior to screening out ineligible proposals
| Number of proposals | Total proposal value, Years 1-2 | Average proposal value, Years 1-2 | |||
| East Asia and the Pacific | 14 | (8%) | $285 m. | (8%) | $20 m. |
| Eastern Europe | 14 | (8%) | $77 m. | (2%) | $6 m. |
| Latin America & Caribbean | 7 | (4%) | $112 m. | (3%) | $16 m. |
| Middle East and North Africa | 12 | (7%) | $204 m. | (6%) | $17 m. |
| South and West Asia | 38 | (22%) | $253 m. | (7%) | $7 m. |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 76 | (44%) | $2,428 m. | (68%) | $32 m. |
| Regional | 12 | (7%) | $199 m. | (6%) | $17 m. |
| Total all regions | 173 | (100%) | $3,561 m. | (100%) | $21 m. |
| TB | 38 | (22%) | $495 m. | (14%) | $13 m. |
| Malaria | 45 | (26%) | $871 m. | (24%) | $19 m. |
| HIV/AIDS | 69 | (40%) | $1,640 m. | (46%) | $24 m. |
| Health Sector Strengthening | 21 | (12%) | $555 m. | (16%) | $26 m. |
| Total all components | 173 | (100%) | $3,561 m. | (100%) | $21 m. |
| From sub-CCMs | 7 | (4%) | Not available | Not available | |
| From regional CMs | 5 | (3%) | Not available | Not available | |
| From regional organizations | 16 | (9%) | Not available | Not available | |
| From non-CCMs | 50 | (29%) | Not available | Not available | |
| From CCMs | 95 | (55%) | Not available | Not available | |
| Total all applicant types | 173 | (100%) | $3,561 m. | (100%) | $21 m. |
