Procedures for the selection of the members of the Project Management Team of the Platform “Biomedical and Photonics Research Platform for Innovative Products (BioPhoT)”

Contents

Procedures for the selection of the members of the Management Team of the Platform for Biomedical and Photonics Research for Innovative Products (BioPhoT) 1

Purpose and scope of the Procedure. 3

BioPhot Platform Project Management Team responsibilities, activities, composition, status and remuneration  3

Minimum requirements for the education, language skills and work experience of the members of the BioPhot Platform Project Management Team.. 5

Competences required for members of the BioPhot Platform Project Management Team and how to assess them.. 5

Procedures for documenting and publicising the process and results of the Selection. 7

Purpose and scope of the Procedure

1. The purpose of the Procedure for the Selection of the Project Management Team of the Platform “Biomedical and Photonics Research Platform for Innovative Products (BioPhoT)” (hereinafter – BioPhoT Platform) (hereinafter – Procedure) is to ensure that the BioPhoT Platform Coordinator – Latvian Organic Synthesis Institute (hereinafter – OSI), fulfils the task delegated by the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia, in the Regulation No 560 (hereinafter – the Cabinet Regulation), Paragraph 69²¹5 “to develop internal platform procedures for the selection of platform project management team members through an open competition and establish a platform project management team within the platform”.
2. The Procedure shall provide:

• minimum requirements for the education, language skills and work experience of the members of the BioPhot Platform Project Management Team;
• the competences required for the members of the BioPhot Platform Project Management Team and how they will be assessed;
• the procedures for documenting and publicising the process and results of the selection process.

3. The purpose of the Procedure is to ensure that the selection process for the BioPhot Platform Project Management Team complies with the principles of good corporate governance practice and that the selection of BioPhot Platform Project Management Team members is open, fair and professional.
4. The members of the BioPhot Platform Project Management Team shall be selected by a Selection Panel composed of:
   • Osvalds Pugovičs, Deputy Director of OSI, Head of BioPhoT Platform (Chair of the Selection Committee);
   • OSI Director Dace Kārkle (Member of the Selection Committee);
   • Juliana Liņģīte, Senior Expert, Department of Business Competitiveness, Ministry of Economics (Member of the Selection Committee);
   • Senior Expert of the Business Competitiveness Department of the Ministry of Economics Egija Aurēlija Liepiņa (Member of the Selection Committee);
   • Indra Dedze, Head of the Scientific Expertise Division of the Latvian Council for Science (Member of the Selection Committee).
5. The Selection Panel shall nominate and confirm as a member of the BioPhot Platform Project Management Team a person of good reputation whose education, competence and work experience meet the requirements for the position.

BioPhot Platform Project Management Teamresponsibilities, activities, composition, status and remuneration

6. The BioPhot Platform Project Management Team consists of three members.
7. The members of the BioPhot Platform Project Management Team are officials.
8. In accordance with Paragraph 69⁽²¹⁾¹ of the Cabinet Regulation, the BioPhoT Platform Project Management Team:
   • shall carry out the selection and internal evaluation of Platform project applications in accordance with the internal procedures developed jointly by the Platform Coordinator and the Platform Partners and approved at the Platform Project Management Team meeting, and the Platform Project Selection and Approval Criteria, which shall form part of the Platform application;
   • monitor the progress of the Platform project and its objective and target indicators throughout its implementation to ensure that the established intermediate outcome indicators of the Platform projects are met and that the established performance outcomes of the Platform projects and other specific objectives, targets and indicators defined in the long-term programme, the Platform and the Platform project are achieved;
   • at least every six months, carry out an interim evaluation of the implementation of the Platform projects, taking into account the progress made to date in each Platform project, the scientific quality of each Platform project, its impact, the expected progress of future implementation and possible risks to future implementation;
   • if necessary, make recommendations for changes to the content and financing plan of the platform project, or decide on suspension, through an interim evaluation of the implementation of the platform project;
   • if a Platform project is discontinued, select a new Platform project and decide whether to allocate funding for its implementation;
   • at its first meeting, elects, by public vote, the Chairperson of the Platform Project Management Team;
   • decisions shall be taken by a simple majority of the members voting in public. In the event of a tie, the vote of the head of the Platform Project Management Team shall be decisive. The meetings of the Platform Project Management Team shall be minuted. The minutes shall record the participants and speakers at the meeting, the decisions taken and the results of the voting (if applicable).
9. The remuneration for a member of the BioPhot Platform Project Management Team is set at EUR 1000.00 for a full 8-hour working day before tax (incl. employer’s social tax). The indicative number of days for the above duties during the entire duration of the BioPhot platform projects (March 2025 to December 2026) is 16 days.
10. Each member of the BioPhot Platform Project Management Team is responsible for the impartiality of the decisions taken. Prior to the evaluation of project applications, a member of the Project Management Team shall declare the absence of any conflict of interest and impartiality and shall take the responsibility to declare that, at the start of the evaluation process, there are no reasons, including family, emotional ties, political or national affiliation, economic interests or any other direct or indirect personal interest, which could reasonably be considered to call into question the independence and impartiality of the decision-maker. It is also the responsibility of each member of the project management team to provide full and timely disclosure of any relationship with the project applicant in order to avoid legal or reputational consequences in a timely manner if they are identified during the project appraisal and decision-making process.
11. If there is an actual conflict of interest between the project applicant and a member of the BioPhot Platform Project Management Team, that member shall be excluded from the project evaluation panel and replaced by another member to ensure a quorum.
12. If, after the meeting, it is established that a member of the BioPhot Platform Project Management Team has a conflict of interest, the decisions taken at the meeting must be reversed, a new Management Team must be established and the final beneficiaries’ applications must be reassessed and the project decisions must be retaken.

Minimum requirements for the education, language skills and work experience of the members of the BioPhot Platform Project Management Team

13. Minimum requirements for candidates for the BioPhot Platform Project Management Team:
    • English language skills sufficient to carry out the tasks of a member of the BioPhot Platform Project Management Team in a professional capacity;
    • a university degree in a field that provides the necessary combination of knowledge and competences to perform professionally the tasks of a member of the BioPhot Platform Project Management Team;
    • work experience that provides the necessary skill set to perform professionally as a member of the BioPhot Platform Project Management Team;
    • impeccable reputation.
14. A candidate for membership of the BioPhot Platform Project Management Team shall be considered to be of good reputation in the absence of evidence to the contrary and without reasonable doubt as to his or her good reputation.
15. In assessing the reputation of a candidate for membership of the BioPhot Platform Project Management Team, account shall be taken of the information available to the Selection Panel for the purpose of making its assessment.

Competences required for members of the BioPhot Platform Project Management Team and how to assess them

16. The Selection Panel identifies the following additional competences required for members of the BioPhot Platform Project Management Team:

17. All applicants are assessed on the same competences.
18. Candidates’ competences are assessed on the basis of the information available in their Curriculum Vitae (CV) and using publicly available sources of information.
19. Before the evaluation of the eligibility of the candidates begins, a member of the Selection Panel shall sign a declaration (Annex 1). If a member of the Selection Panel finds that he/she is unable to ensure that the requirements set out in the certificate are met in respect of a candidate, he/she shall indicate this in the certificate and shall not take part in the evaluation of that candidate.
20. The Selection Panel shall take its decisions by a simple majority of the members present and voting in public. In the event of a tie, the Chair of the Selection Panel shall have a casting vote.
21. The Selection Panel will first assess each candidate’s compliance with the minimum requirements set out in point 13 of the Procedures. The Selection Board shall complete the form attached as Annex 2 for each candidate’s compliance with the minimum requirements and shall agree on a consolidated score in accordance with the procedure set out in point 20. Candidates who do not meet the minimum requirements will not be evaluated further.
22. If the Selection Panel has information which might indicate that a candidate is not of good reputation, it shall be obliged to consider it and take a decision on whether to refer the candidate for further evaluation in accordance with the procedure set out in paragraph 20.
23. For candidates who meet the minimum requirements set out in point 13 of the Procedures, the Selection Board will assess the additional competences set out in point 16 of the Procedures by completing the assessment form attached as Annex 3. The Selection Panel shall score each candidate on a scale of 1 (very poor) to 5 (excellent) for each of the additional competences and calculate a weighted average score for each candidate. The Selection Panel will agree on the consolidated score to be awarded to each candidate for each of the criteria in accordance with the procedure set out in point On the basis of the consolidated scores for each criterion, the Selection Panel will calculate an overall weighted average consolidated score for each candidate. If necessary, the Selection Panel may organise remote interviews with the candidates before taking a final decision on the consolidated score.
24. The Selection Panel will evaluate the candidates in remote meetings of the Selection Panel.
25. The Selection Panel shall confirm the three candidates with the highest overall weighted average consolidated score for the position of member of the BioPhot Platform Project Management Team on the basis of the results of the assessment set out in point 23 of the Procedures.

Procedures for documenting and publicising the process and results of the Selection

26. Following the approval of these Procedures, OSI shall announce a public call for applications for the vacant position of BioPhot Platform Project Management Team member by publishing an advertisement on the OSI website and on the EURAXESS portal, with a two-week application period.
27. To apply for the position of member of the BioPhot Platform Project Management Team, candidates shall submit an extended Curriculum Vitae containing information on the competences set out in points 13 and 16 of the Procedures.
28. The Selection Panel shall ensure that the selection and evaluation process is documented. Upon completion of the selection process, the related documentation shall be deposited with the OSI. Minutes of the Selection Panel meetings shall be kept by a clerk designated by the OSI. The OSI and the Selection Panel shall ensure that the information obtained during the selection and evaluation process concerning the applicants is not passed on or disclosed to third parties, nor are other actions taken which would be contrary to the legal framework for the protection of personal data.
29. To inform the public about the selection process and the results of the eligibility assessment, OSI:
    • publishes the composition of the Selection Panel and these Procedures on the OSI website at the same time as the public call for applications referred to in paragraph 26 of these Procedures;
    • within three working days of the Selection Panel’s decision on the approved candidates, publish on the OSI website the Selection Panel’s information on the composition of the BioPhot Platform Project Management Team.

1. Declaration by a member of the selection panel

The Selection Panel, established by Order No __________________ 20____ of ____________, is tasked with organising the selection of candidates and approving the composition of the BioPhot Platform Project Management Team.

The following candidates have applied to take part in the selection process:

In view of the requirements for the prevention of conflict of interest and the protection of personal data, I, Member(s) of the Selection Committee _______________________________________, certify that:

1) there are no circumstances which would lead me to believe that I have any interest in the selection of the candidates;

2) I do not represent the interests of any of the above candidates, nor am I a current or former line manager or direct report of any of the above candidates (in the last 24 months);

3) I am not a relative up to the second degree of consanguinity, a spouse or a brother-in-law up to the first degree of consanguinity or a person with whom he/she shares a household;

4) the adoption of the decision or participation in the adoption of the decision does not affect my personal or pecuniary interests, those of my relatives up to the second degree of consanguinity, my spouse or in-laws up to the first degree of affinity or those of a person with whom I share a household or business partners;

5) information obtained during the evaluation process about the applicants will not be passed on or disclosed to third parties, nor will any other actions be taken that would be contrary to the legal framework for the protection of personal data;

6) I have been warned that I will be liable to disciplinary, administrative or criminal prosecution for making false statements in this declaration, for disclosing information obtained in the course of the Selection Panel’s work and for any other breach of the measures for the protection of this information.

I will not participate in the evaluation of the following candidate(s):

2. Evaluation form for the minimum requirements of a candidate for the BioPhoT Platform Project Management Team

Minimum requirements for language skills, education and work experience

3.Evaluation form for the BioPhoT Platform Project Management Team candidate’s additional competences