The Selection Committee is a group of individuals who perform evaluations on behalf of Mercy Corps. They review bids, make a contract award recommendation, and conduct negotiations. Selection Committee members are typically employees of the donating organization, but can be volunteers as well. This group can include people from different departments within the organization, including senior leaders and people with significant experience in the area of the proposed project. This diversity is crucial to ensuring that all aspects of the proposal are considered by the committee.
Selection Committee members are required to sign a conflict of interest policy. They must also complete a comprehensive online training module prior to beginning the committee process. This training helps ensure that all committee members understand their role and responsibilities, avoid conflict of interests, and maintain objectivity throughout the committee process.
Each Selection Committee member serves a three-year term. They can be reappointed for additional terms, but the total number of years they serve cannot exceed seven. The initial group of Selection Committee members was assigned to staggered terms, but the length of their term is now determined by the Selection Committee Management committee. In the event a Committee member must leave their position before completing their term, the management committee will appoint a replacement to serve out their full three-year term.
Before selecting teams for the tournament, the Selection Committee must first determine which schools should be seeded. This is done in a step-by-step process, which includes both the listing step and the ranking step. During the listing step, committee members select the pool of teams they would consider for each region. They then rank those teams, and the top four are selected to become the regional seeds. The remaining teams are placed in the other regions.
During the ranking step, each committee member ranks all teams in the pool based on their own evaluations of each team. This includes their own observations from watching the teams, as well as a variety of smart nerdy metrics like RPI, Sagarin, KenPom, and BPI rankings. The committee also takes into consideration factors such as strength of schedule, head-to-head results, road records, key player injuries, imbalanced conference schedules, and other things.
The committee is also careful not to create a situation where a top team would play against one of its own regional rivals. It is important to keep in mind that the tournament is not over until all teams have played at least two games, so avoiding this type of scenario is paramount for the success of the tournament.
Another key to a successful Selection Committee is arranging the interview room in a way that does not make candidates feel intimidated. This could be as simple as avoiding a “hotseat”-style seating arrangement, and trying to strike a balance between a rigid questioning structure and a conversational flow. This will help the Selection Committee get a better understanding of each candidate’s strengths and weaknesses, and ensure that all potential applicants receive a fair evaluation.