APPEAL.

(a) In a form prescribed by the department in the qualified allocation plan, an applicant may appeal the following decisions made by the department in the application evaluation process provided by Section 2306.6710:

(1) a determination regarding the application's satisfaction of threshold and underwriting criteria;

(2) the scoring of the application; and

(3) a recommendation as to the amount of housing tax credits to be allocated to the application.

(b) An applicant may not appeal a decision made under Section 2306.6710 regarding an application filed by another applicant.

(c) An applicant must file a written appeal authorized by this section with the department not later than the seventh day after the date the department publishes the results of the application evaluation process provided by Section 2306.6710. In the appeal, the applicant must specifically identify the applicant's grounds for appeal, based on the original application and additional documentation filed with the original application.

(d) The director shall respond in writing to the appeal not later than the 14th day after the date of receipt of the appeal. If the applicant is not satisfied with the director's response to the appeal, the applicant may appeal directly in writing to the board, provided that an appeal filed with the board under this subsection must be received by the board before:

(1) the seventh day preceding the date of the board meeting at which the relevant allocation decision is expected to be made; or

(2) the third day preceding the date of the board meeting described by Subdivision (1), if the director does not respond to the appeal before the date described by Subdivision (1).

(e) Board review of an appeal under Subsection (d) is based on the original application and additional documentation filed with the original application. The board may not review any information not contained in or filed with the original application. The decision of the board regarding the appeal is final.