In December 2011 and January 2012, the Global Fund Board approved in principle 18 grant renewals at a full Phase 2 cost of $429 million. The amounts approved represented 83% of the amounts that had been requested by applicants.
Because the grants in question were all scheduled to be renewed in 2011, the requests for continued funding were reviewed under the "old" rules. The Board adopted new rules at its meeting in November 2011, but the new rules apply only to grants that reach Month 18 on or after 1 January 2012 (Month 24 in the case of single-stream-of-funding grants). GFO reported on the new rules here and here. However, one of the new rules (the 1+1+1 rule) is already in effect and is being applied to the December and January renewals. Under this rule, the Global Fund is allocating funding for renewals in three tranches of one year each, instead of a two-year tranche followed by a one-year tranche (which had been the rule before the November Board meeting). There are still a number of other grants that reached Month 18 in 2011 and that have not been renewed yet; these will be renewed in the next few months under the old rules (with the 1+1+1 rule being the exception). The Global Fund Secretariat informed GFO that the first Board decisions on renewals being processed under the new rules will not likely come before April 2012. Decisions concerning grant renewals are normally batched and sent to the Board once each month for approval. The voting is done electronically.