Obtaining Prior Approval for Receiving Foreign Grants to Sri Lanka from Other Governments / Foreign Development Partners / Foreign Institutions
This has reference to the lettersmentioned below on the above subject.
- Letter No. MNPEA/PLN/PI/2019 dated 2019.01.10 issued by the Ministry of National Policies, Economic Affairs, Resettlement and Rehabilitation, Northern Province development, Vocational Training & Skills Development and Youth Affairs (Circular No. MNPEA 02/2019) title “Guidelines for Submitting Development Project Proposals for Public Investments”
- Letter No. SC&PMU/ Grant/19 dated 2019.07.25 issued by the Department of External Resources titled “Obtaining Foreign Gifts, Equipment and Gifts from Sri Lanka to Other Governments / Foreign Development Partners / Foreign Institutions and Inventing their Proper Accounting”
- Circular No. PS/SP/SB/Circular/06/2019 dated 2019.12.19 issued by the Presidential Secretariat titled “Rationalization of the Prevailing Mechanism on Engaging with Investors, Lending Agencies, Foreign Organizations and Missions”
- Letter No. MFEPD/NP/Gen/2020/01 dated 2020.01.31 issued by the Ministry of Finance, Economy and Policy Development titled “Guidelines for Submitting Development Project Proposals for Public Investment”
- Letter No. ERD/IRCPRS/GEN/10 dated 2020.02.17 issued by the Department of External Resources titled “Procurement of New Vehicles & Consultancies under Foreign Funded Projects”
- Letter No. SC&PMU/ Grant/20 dated 2020.08.14 issued by the Department of External Resources titled “Obtaining Foreign Gifts, Equipment and Gifts from Sri Lanka to Other Governments / Foreign Development Partners / Foreign Institutions and Inventing their Proper Accounting”
- Letter No. ERD/AE/GEN/16 dated 2020.10.02 issued by the Ministry of Finance titled “Streamlining the Fund Channeling Mechanism and Implementation Modalities of Grant Funded Projects”
The prior approval should be obtained from the line Ministry with the recommendation of the UGC before entering into Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)/ Grant Agreements with the foreign Institutions and/ or before implementing the project.
Further, the Cabinet of Ministers on 03.07.2018 had decided that all the MOUs/Agreements to be entered by the Universities are required to be tabled before Parliament through the Cabinet of Ministers.
Therefore, the procedure adopted in the University system governed under the Universities Act No. 16 of 1978, for this purpose is as follows;
- Approval of the Council of the appropriate University
- Clearance by the University Grants Commission
- Clearance by the Ministry of Education
- Clearance by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Clearance by the External Resources Department
Accordingly, the UGC requires following documents to expedite the process of obtaining clearanceand give the recommendations to the Ministry.
- Complete set of a MoU/ Agreement including schedules and Annexures if available
- Recommendations obtained from the relevant divisions/authorities of the HEI including the Legal Observations of the appropriate University, the recommendation of the faculty board,senete, etc ..
- Minutes of the Council of the University/ Board of Management of the Institute which grant approval to sign the MoU/ Grant Agreement
- Duly filled “Justification format” and the “Check list” for the MoU/ Grant Agreement (Could be downloaded)
- Duly filled “Project Submission Format issued by the Department of National Planning (Could be downloaded)
- Budget and other relevant financial documents in relevant to the MoU/ Grant Agreement
- A Certified copy of the Grant approval letter issued by the Donor
- A certified copy of the Project Proposal in relevant to the MoU/ Grant Agreement
Further details can be obtained from Senior Assistant Secretary attached to the Office of the Vice Chairman(Tel:0112 123623 / E-mail: chathurika@ugc.ac.lk )