Reprogramming and Sub-recipient Budget Reallocations

Reprogramming

Reprogramming is the process of changing the scope and/or scale of goals and objectives and/or key interventions of a Global Fund supported program. These programmatic changes should be reflected in changes to the Grant Confirmation, potentially including the performance indicators, targets, health products management template (HPMT), and the budget.

Reprogramming may be initiated by either the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) and/or Principal Recipient (PR) or suggested by the Global Fund Secretariat and managed in consultation with CCM, PR(s) and technical partners. All reprogramming requests shall be endorsed by the CCM, and the Global Fund Country Team may require a Local Fund Agent (LFA) review of the request.

Reprogramming of a grant may be proposed at any time during the grant implementation.

A reprogramming request is classified as either “material” or “non-material” (Please refer to Global Fund Budgeting Guidelines Section on Budget Revisions – Grant Implementation). A reprogramming is considered material and should be referred to the Technical Review Panel (TRP) for review when:

• It contradicts the TRP’s original review and recommendation on the proposal (e.g., an intervention originally removed by the TRP is being reintroduced to the programme; there is a significant redesign or shift of balance of original proposal/programme i.e., a prevention programme is shifting to treatment; a key intervention is removed from the grant without evidence of alternative funding in the country); or
• An independent technical review of a reprogramming request is required to approve the case when there is a lack of agreement, significant gaps in evidence to support a reprogramming need, unexplained lack of impact, or difficult trade-offs in decision making; or
• In cases where additional Global Fund financing representing more than a 30 percent increase to the approved funding for the implementation period.

Non-material reprogramming requests fall outside the definition of materiality described above and are reviewed and approved by the Secretariat.

The materiality of a reprogramming request will be assessed at the disease or Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) programme level (supported by the Global Fund) and not at the individual grant level.

Any savings identified through a reprogramming may be reinvested and are not automatically deducted from the programme. Reinvestment must be analysed in the context of a programme’s existing performance.

Practice Pointer

Budgeting

For UNDP PMU and UN SR project personnel, salaries should be budgeted using the currency of the respective salary scale. For example, if the currency of the salary scale is in local currency, budgeting should be done using the local currency. If the currency of the salary scale is in USD, the budgeting should be done using USD. Details on the salary scale currency can be found Details on the salary scale currency can be found here.

Additionally, UNDP PMU salaries should be budgeted according to the proforma costs provided by BMS/OFM. It is recommended to factor in annual cost increases (up to 3%) for the future year’s budgets.

For non-UN SR project personnel, salaries are typically budgeted in local currency unless otherwise agreed with the Global Fund.

Salary Increases

Any changes to salary scales (change to the currencies of salary scales and /or salary scale revisions) for UN project personnel, must be communicated to the Global Fund immediately upon receiving the official UN Circular announcing the adjustment. No approval is required since UNDP personnel contracts are administered in accordance with UNDP Programme and Operations Policies and Procedures (POPP) and the revised salary scale is not specific to UNDP nor optional for UN Agencies to implement but is applicable to all eligible staff in the UN common system in the country.

According to the Global Fund budgeting guidelines (see page 27 on Specific Budget Revision requirement for discretionary cost category – Human Resources ):

Any increase in salary or incentive above the approved detailed budget for Global Fund-funded project personnel must be approved in advance and in writing by the Global Fund, regardless of the percentage increase. UNDP COs are therefore advised to notify the Global Fund Country Teams of any revised UN salary scale adjustments and provide a preliminary assessment of financial implication on grant budgets.

In cases where these revisions have significant financial implications, COs are encouraged to submit a reprogramming budget without delay if the programme is projected to exceed the approved HR cost category by more than 5% over a 3-year period.

Sub-recipient budget reallocations

As indicated in UNDP’s Global Fund Sub-Recipient (SR) agreement, the SR shall not commit or expend SR Funds in variance of more than 10 percent of any budget line item indicated in the annual work plan, unless approved in advance and in writing by UNDP. The SR shall indicate any expected variations in its quarterly reports delivered to UNDP.