Funding award process

There is a four-step process in awarding PFP funding.

Step 1: PFP application review and approval process

The PFP administrator will notify you within one business day of the receipt of your application and initiate the review and approval process illustrated below.

An independent funding review committee (FRC), composed of a panel of external experts, will review your application and recommend whether or not your funding request should be approved, including the amount and any objectives you will have to meet. The PFP administrator will then notify you of the CNSC’s final decision within 25 business days of the closing date for the application process.

This graphic illustrates the review and approval process of all PFP application forms.

Step 2: Award and contribution agreement process

The CNSC will issue a contribution agreement (CA) to all successful PFP funding applicants. By accepting this CA, you will initiate the funding award and contribution agreement process illustrated in step 1 below.

Step 3: Funding payment process

The CNSC issues funding payments once PFP funding recipients have demonstrated they have met the objectives outlined within their contribution agreement (e.g., by reviewing Commission member documents and/or participating in a Commission hearing), submitted a final financial report (FFR) detailing their eligible expenses, and completed a recipient survey. This process is illustrated in steps 2 and 3 below.

To learn more about the CNSC’s funding award process including how the CNSC issues its payments, advanced funding criteria and meeting your CA objectives, please review the PFP Guide or contact the PFP administrator.

Step 4: Recipient survey

All successful recipients of PFP funding are asked to complete a recipient survey. This six question survey takes only a few minutes to complete and is designed to obtain your feedback on how the CNSC may improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the PFP. The recipient survey is listed within PFP resources and templates.

Service standard

• Payment will be made within 30 days of receipt of a valid final financial report (FFR).

We have developed a Participant Funding Program (PFP) service standard to publicly state the level of performance that funding applicants can reasonably expect to encounter under normal circumstances. This external PFP service standard is published to demonstrate our commitment to transparent management, accountability for results, and citizen-focused service delivery.

Performance against the service standard will be tracked, and the results will be made available annually.

Service standard results from April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021

	Percentage of payments made within 30 days of receipt of a valid FFR
Target	100%
Result	96%*

*Due to an issue in the financial system regarding recipient banking information, we were unable to fully meet our service standard in 2020–21. This issue was rectified in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year.