1. Compliance with Funding Priorities and Benefits to Customers, Citizens and Government): The proposals must support gubernatorial and Innovation Fund priorities and provide benefits to customers, citizens and customers.  

• MIDashboard Priorities: Economic strength; health and education; value for money government; quality of life; and public safety.
• ICT Fund Priorities: The five priority areas for the fund are: innovations; enterprise level investments and infrastructure; multi-agency, transferable initiatives; cost effective or high performance ICT solutions; and alignment with the governor's government redesign goals.

2. Return on Investment and Ability to Repay Loan: The project must be able to clearly identify a positive return on investment (ROI) to the state, and should include a detailed cost-benefit analysis, as well as risk assessment. Proposals must:

• Demonstrate clear cost-savings (budgetary reductions) to the State, or show increased revenues to the State, and / or  
• Demonstrate specific cost-avoidance by allowing greater efficiency in government processes or transactions.
• Clearly identify how the ROI will be measured to determine realization of the projected benefits.

3. Transferability of Solutions, Technologies and Processes: The project must benefit multiple government agencies, or the technology, infrastructure, or processes used will be able to be diffused broadly to the benefit of other government agencies, including local government. Reviewers will consider the following:

• The degree to which the proposed project addresses the needs of multiple agencies or organizations and levels of government.
• The degree to which the proposed project supports integrated delivery of services to constituents and stakeholders.
• The ease of replication and adaptation of the solution to other agencies or government organizations, based on considerations such as cost and complexity.

4. Process Changes, Redesign: The proposal must result in improvements, upgrades in business and operational processes and in alignment with the proposed ICT solutions. Reviewers will consider the following factors:

• How well and to what degree the project will streamline, enhance, and improve government business processes.
• How well and to what degree the project will bring about new and practical changes in how services are provided by government.

5. Innovative Solution and ICT: The project must apply solutions or technologies in appropriate and innovative ways to address needs and solve a particular problem. This may include using ICT in business process re-engineering, elimination of unnecessary steps, or automation of manual checks and balances. The goal should be to streamline government and ensure the maximum use of ICT in government reinvention.

6. Project Management and Schedule: The proposal must be able to clearly identify the schedule for timely development and deployment of the project, project milestones and schedule dates for those milestones, the people, tools and processes that will be used to ensure appropriate project management and the ability to complete the project on schedule. The proposal must clearly identify methods and processes to effectively manage the project, including risk management, to ensure successful and timely completion.

7. Post-loan and Design Sustainability: Reviewers will assess the proposed budget for the project in terms of clarity and cost-effectiveness, as well as plans for sustaining the project in the future. The following factors will be considered by reviewers:

• The proposed budget is comprehensive, clear, and cost-effective.
• The project is capable of becoming self-sustaining in a specific time-frame and does not require use of Innovation Fund resources for continued or ongoing operating expenses.
• The Project has appropriate plans for sustaining itself, as needed beyond the loan period.