(a) After receipt of all applications for a particular service area, Corporation staff shall:
(1) Review each application and any additional information that the Corporation has regarding each applicant, including for any applicant that is or includes a current or former recipient, past monitoring and compliance reports, performance evaluations and other pertinent records for the past six years;
(2) Request from an applicant and review any additional information that the Corporation determines is appropriate to evaluate the application fully;
(3) Conduct one or more on-site visits to an applicant if the Corporation determines that such visits are appropriate to evaluate the application fully;
(4) Summarize in writing information regarding the applicant that is not contained in the application if appropriate for the review process; and
(5) Convene a review panel unless there is only one applicant for a particular service area and the Corporation determines that use of a review panel is not appropriate. The review panel shall:
(i) Review the applications and the summaries prepared by the Corporation staff. The review panel may request other information identified by the Corporation as necessary to evaluate the applications fully; and
(ii) Make a written recommendation to the Corporation regarding the award of grants or contracts from the Corporation for a particular service area.
(6) After considering the recommendation made by the review panel, if a review panel was convened, make a staff recommendation to the President. The staff recommendation shall include the recommendation of the review panel and, if the staff recommendation differs from that of the review panel, an explanation of the basis for the difference in the recommendations.
(b) After reviewing the written recommendations, the President shall select the applicants to be awarded grants or contracts from the Corporation and the Corporation shall notify each applicant in writing of the President's decision regarding each applicant's application.
(c) In the event that there are no applicants for a service area or that the Corporation determines that no applicant meets the criteria and therefore determines not to award a grant or contract for a particular service area, the Corporation shall take all practical steps to ensure the continued provision of legal assistance in that service area. The Corporation shall have discretion to determine how legal assistance is to be provided to the service area, including, but not limited to, enlarging the service area of a neighboring recipient, putting a current recipient on month-to-month funding or entering into a short term, interim grant or contract with another qualified provider for the provision of legal assistance in the service area until the completion of a competitive bidding process within a reasonable period of time.