(a) To be considered for negotiations in any year, a Tribe/Consortium must be a member of the applicant pool on March 1 of the year in which the negotiations are to take place.

(b) An applicant may be admitted into the applicant pool during one year and selected to negotiate a compact and AFA in a subsequent year. In this case, the applicant must, before March 1 of the negotiation year, submit to OSG updated documentation that permits OSG to evaluate whether the Tribe/Consortium still satisfies the application criteria in 1000.17.