The Thirteenth Meeting of the Executive Committee approved the expedited process for approval of projects under US $500,000, as proposed by the United States, the major steps for implementation of the streamlined mechanism being as follows:
(a) the testing Implementing Agency would negotiate with an Article 5 country an agreement which would include sector specific cost-effectiveness boundaries which would serve as an incentive for the development of highly cost-effective projects which are eligible for expedited Fund approval of projects under US $500,000;
(b) the agreement would then be presented to the Executive Committee so that it may assure itself that the cost-effectiveness boundaries would ensure that the agreement would serve as an incentive for the submission and approval of highly cost-effective projects;
(c) projects submitted under this process would have to meet normal, under US $500,000 information requirements, but would be reviewed by the Secretariat only for the following matters: presentation of new policy issues and consistency with Executive Committee guidelines and precedents. All projects found to be inconsistent with this criteria would be held over until the next Executive Committee meeting. All projects found to be consistent with these matters would, within 10 days of submission to the Secretariat, be sent to the members of the Executive Committee for their review and approval on a no-objection basis;
(d) the members of the Executive Committee would be given five business days from the time of receipt of the documents to request that a particular project be held over for consideration by the Executive Committee. No response in that time would be taken as approval of the project;
(e) upon the expiration of the review period, the Secretariat would inform the Agency of the results of the review by the Executive Committee. The Secretariat would also request the Treasurer to advance funds to the Implementing Agency to facilitate the expeditious implementation of approved projects.
The Executive Committee also agreed upon a testing period of six months for the new mechanism.
(UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/13/47 (paras. 68-69).
Subsequently, the Seventeenth Meeting of the Executive Committee decided that a detailed evaluation of the Small Project Approval Programme (SPAP) pilot phase should be made prior to any decision to extend the Programme. The terms of reference for such an evaluation should be agreed among the World Bank, the Secretariat and the country concerned.
(UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/17/60, Decision 17/9 para. 17).