1. (1) Preliminary review. The department shall review each application for compliance with the format and content specifications of s. DWD 802.04 (2) and the GPA. The department may deny any application that fails to meet any of those criteria.

2. (2) Evaluation criteria.

   1. (a) If the department does not deny a grant application under sub. (1), the department shall evaluate the application against all of the following criteria:

      1. 1. Demand-driven need based on labor market data and employer partnerships.
      2. 2. Leveraging of partnerships with employers and matching funds.
      3. 3. Optimizing regional training capacity and the number of skilled workers as validated by relevant employers.
      4. 4. Building on proven programs.
      5. 5. Demonstrating sustainability of training pupils in the use of equipment that will be acquired with grant moneys.

   2. (b) For each GPA, the department shall establish and make available a grant evaluation rubric and scoresheet that requires the department to assign points to each application signifying the degree to which the application meets each criterion under par. (a), except that the grant evaluation rubric and scoresheet may allow the department to assign a greater number of points to applications for which private sources contribute all or some of the matching funds required under s. DWD 802.06. The total points assigned to the application for all applicable criteria will be the score for the application. The department shall numerically rank each application for each GPA.

      Note: Grant evaluation rubrics and scoresheets can be found on the department’s website at http://wisconsinfastforward.com/wff_standard.htm.

3. (3) Making awards. For each GPA, the department shall award grants to the applicants so that not less than one-third of grant moneys awarded in a fiscal biennium are provided to sparsity aid applicants. For sparsity aid applicants, the department shall award grants to applicants with the highest numerical scores under sub. (2) (b) compared to other sparsity aid applicants and for non-sparsity aid applicants, the department shall award grants to applicants with the highest numerical scores under sub. (2) (b) compared to other non-sparsity aid applicants.
4. (4) Notification. The department shall notify each applicant in writing of the department’s decision on the application by the date set in the GPA.
5. (5) Contract. The department shall make each grant award through a contract between the department and the applicant selected to receive the grant.

History

History: EmR2001: emerg. cr., eff. 2-25-20; CR 20-015: cr. Register April 2022 No. 796, eff. 5-1-22; EmR2418: emerg. am. (3), eff. 12-10-24; CR 25-046: am. (3) Register September 2025 No. 837, eff. 10-1-25.