Grant Solicitation Processes

Digital Square will pursue a competitive procurement process to facilitate investment in global goods. A competitive process provides capable entities the opportunity to submit bids in a fair and transparent process for a committee to evaluate bids and to select the successful applicant(s). In order to foster competition in alignment with funder expectations, Digital Square will release solicitations through the following methods.

1. Open Application Process (OAP) Solicitation, referred to as a Notice.

2. Request for Application (RFA).

The investment decision may be made by the Governing Board or funder prior to the solicitation and will depend on:

A. Whether the funder decides to maintain or relinquish the investment decision to the Governing Board.

B. Whether the funder has specific business requirements attached to the funding opportunity. This may include the time frames for which funding is available or the need to coordinate with other investments.

For more information on the overall process for selected applicants, please review the Global Good Investment Process.

Types of Procurement Processes

Open Application Process

Digital Square facilitates a regular solicitation through the OAP platform referred to as the Notice. In this website, applicants publicly post concept notes and applications, providing applicants the opportunity to find collaborators and provide and receive feedback from your peers.

The following outlines the timelines of proposal process:

Step #: Summary	Description	Approximate Timeline
Step 1: Solicitation preparation	Digital Square works with the funder to secure investment and refine the scope of work for the solicitation.
Step 2: Concept note development	Digital Square issues a call for applications, and applicants upload concept notes to Digital Square's public-facing OAP platform. In the first 2 to 4 weeks, as outlined by the solicitation, applicants will submit concept notes. Applicants must use the concept note template.	2 weeks
Step 3: Concept note review	In the few weeks following the concept note submission deadline, other applicants and/or other stakeholders in the community may provide feedback, comments, and suggestions, as well as identify potential areas for collaboration.	3 weeks
Step 4: Digital Square review of concept notes	Following the concept note review, Digital Square assesses concept notes to ensure alignment with the initiative vision and funding round objectives identified in the Notice. Digital Square eliminates concept notes that are not strategically aligned with the above. Digital Square identifies a set of short-listed concept notes based on the Notice criteria and emails applicants who are eligible to move on to the application phase.	1 week
Step 5: Preliminary technical application co-creation	Using feedback received in the Concept Note Phase, applicants will begin preliminary application development. Applicants must use the technical application template and post an application iteration on the OAP platform in the first 2 weeks. The comment feature is available beginning the day of application posting. The subsequent 2 weeks of this step, the applicant should continue to iterate on the application submission based on comments from other applicants and stakeholders. At the conclusion of this step, Digital Square will close the ability to upload new content to OAP platform .	4 weeks
Step 6: Preliminary technical application comment period	Following preliminary application development step, Digital Square will close the ability to upload content to the OAP platform. During this time, other applicants and other stakeholders in the community should provide feedback, comments, and suggestions.	2 weeks
Step 7: Application finalization	Using feedback during the preliminary technical application comment period, applicants revise the technical application, develop a budget and budget narrative, and submit these to the Digital Square OAP platform. Applicants must use the provided technical application, budget, and budget narrative templates. The budget and budget narrative are not shared publicly on the platform. Commenters see only the high-level summary budget provided in the technical application.	2 weeks
Step 8: Peer Review Committee (PRC) review	Digital Square groups applications for PRC scoring and technical feedback. Three PRC members will review each application. The PRC reviews applications according to the Prioritization Framework, notice scope of work technical requirements and evaluates applications as green-, amber-, or red-lit per the Terms of Reference. Green-lit applications are recommended for funding immediately; amber-lit applications are recommended for future funding or further exploration; red-lit applications do not fully meet the selection standards/criteria. The PRC sees only the high-level summary budget. Proprietary information including salaries, indirect rates, or other factors are not shared with anyone outside of the funder and Digital Square.	3 weeks
Step 9A: Digital Square recommendation or Step 9B: Digital Square compilation	Digital Square compiles the evaluation provided by the PRC by clustering the applications according to the Prioritization Framework for Governing Board review. Digital Square creates an investment package recommendation of the highly scored applications for the Governing Board based on the funding round objectives, donor priorities, and Digital Square vision. or Digital Square compiles the evaluation provided by the PRC by clustering the applications into thematic areas for funder review.	2 weeks 1 week
Step 10A: Board review or Step 10B: Funder review and Board notification	Digital Square presents the applications, high-level budget summary, PRC feedback within the Prioritization Framework, and Digital Square recommendation to the Governing Board. The Governing Board evaluates whether to approve the investment packages and reserves the right to modify the recommendation at their discretion. or The funder makes the investment decision. Digital Square notifies the Governing Board of the funder evaluation and investment decision. This step will occur during routine Governing Board communications.	Per schedule
Step 11A: Award Phase or Step 11B: Award Phase	Digital Square shares the investment decisions approved by the Governing Board with applicants. Upon applicant request, PRC feedback shall be shared with applicant. Investment decisions are contingent on funder approval. or The result of funder investment decisions are communicated to the submitters. Upon applicant request, PRC feedback shall be shared with the submitters. Investment decisions are contingent on funder approval.