Section 648-2-9 - INDEPENDENT PROGRAM EVALUATIONA. Periodic Evaluation of Trust-funded Programs and Projects The Trust shall arrange for the performance of periodic and comprehensive evaluations of the cost-effectiveness of all programs and projects that it has funded pursuant to this Chapter. These evaluations shall be undertaken by means of contracts with one or more independent program evaluators establishing the criteria for evaluation of grantees, areas of particular scrutiny and levels of sampling for verification of estimates and required deliverables in the contractor's final report to the Trust. Each evaluation must include an audit of the program or project and an evaluation of its effectiveness in meeting the goals of this Chapter.
B. Periodic Competitive Bid Processes. The Trust will select one or more independent program evaluators in a manner consistent with section 7 of this Chapter. No current employee of the Trust, the Commission, the Department, the Office of Energy Independence and Security or Efficiency Maine is eligible to participate as part of a bid submitted in a competitive bid process under this section.C. Scheduling of Independent Program Evaluation. The trustees may establish any schedule for conducting an Independent Program Evaluation of major programs and projects as long as the Independent Program Evaluation is completed prior to the commencement of the second or subsequent Triennial Plan under section 10 of this Chapter. For the purposes of this section, "major programs and projects" means activities funded with an annual budget of $500,000 or more.95- 648 C.M.R. ch. 2, § 9