AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENTGRANTS NEWS
August 2014
Grants News | 1
Welcome
Welcome to the first edition of Grants News since the introduction of thePublic Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (PGPA Act).
It's undoubtedly been a busy few months for all of us, implementing the PGPA Act as well as the new Commonwealth Grants Rules and Guidelines (CGRGs) which also came into effect on 1 July 2014.
This edition of Grants News includes a range of helpful information about both the PGPA Act and CGRGs, as well as some reflections from the Office of Deregulation, Australian Research Council and the Australian National Audit Office.
Click on the links to find out more.
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What’s in this edition?
Australian Charities and Not-for profit CommissionCharity Passport is now operational
PGPA Act & the CGRGs
Took effect 1 July 2014
The grants.gov.au projectProject update
Office of DeregulationRed tape reduction
Focusing on the achievement of programme outcomes when awarding grant fundingAn ANAO perspective
The Australian Research Council
An entity profile
Grants News | 1
PGPA Act & the CGRGs
On 1 July 2014, the CGGs were replaced by the CGRGs.
What’s different in the CGRGs?
The CGRGs maintain the Commonwealth grants requirements in place since June 2013. They do not create any new obligations. However, some requirements that previously existed in the Financial Management and Accountability Regulations 1997 (FMA Regulations) are now found in the CGRGs.
These changes include:
- moving the definition of a ‘grant’ (previously FMA Regulation 3A) to the CGRGs (paragraphs 2.3 – 2.5)
- moving the requirement to record the basis for awarding a grant (previously FMA Regulation 12A) to the CGRGs (paragraphs 4.5 and 4.11).
Other changes include:
- updating terminology, in line with the PGPA Act and Rules.
What do I need to do?
You should read the CGRGs. Make sure you are aware of your obligations and familiarise yourself with the changes in terminology under the PGPA Act.
The Finance website has updated guidance material to assist, including:
- Resource Management Guide No.411: Grants, Procurements and Other Financial Arrangements, which replaces Finance Circular 2013/01
- Resource Management Guide No. 412: Australian Government Grants – Briefing and Reporting, which replaces Finance Circular 2013/02 and
- anFAQs page.
If you have any questions,please contact .
Module 1 of the Commonwealth Resource Management eLearning Program, Introduction to the PGPA Act, is now accessible on the Finance website. Additional modules will be added to the training website in coming months.
Helpful PGPA Act terminology
EntityIncludes a Department of State, a Parliamentary Department, a listed entity, and a body corporate established by law of the Commonwealth.
Non-corporate Commonwealth entities
A Commonwealth entity that is not a body corporate. That is, non-corporate Commonwealth entities are not legally separate from the Commonwealth.
Corporate Commonwealth entities
A Commonwealth entity that is a body corporate that is legally separate from the Commonwealth.
Accountable authorities
if the Commonwealth entity is / then the accountable authority of the entity isa Dept of State / the Secretary
a Parliamentary Dept / the Secretary
a listed entity / persons prescribed by the Rules as the accountable authority of the entity
a body corporate established by a law of the Commonwealth / the governing body of the entity, unless otherwise prescribed by the Rules
Officials
An individual who is in, or forms part of, the entity. Under subsection 13(3), and without limiting subsection (2), an official:
(a)includes an individual who:
(i) is, or is a member of, the accountable authority of the entity; or
(ii) is an officer, employee or member of the entity; or
(iii) is an individual, or an individual in a class, prescribed by the Rules;
Note the exceptions of 13(3)(b).
Relevant money
8(a)money standing to the credit of any bank account of the Commonwealth or a corporate Commonwealth entity; or
8(b)money that is held by the Commonwealth or a corporate Commonwealth entity.
Proper
When used in relation to the use or management of public resources, means efficient, effective, economical and ethical.
Australian Charities and Not-for profitsCommission Charity Passport is operational
The Australian Charities and Not-for profits Commission (ACNC) is pleased to advise that the Charity Passport – the key to the ACNC’s ‘report once, use often’ framework – is now operational and can be used by government entities to reduce red tape for charities.
Through the Charity Passport, the ACNC can securely share information collected from registered charities with other government entities (Charity Passport Partners).
This information includes:
- core charity information
- the Annual Information Statement
- charity documents
- registration information
- charitable purpose
- responsible persons
- ACNC enforcement outcomes.
Why use it?
The report once, use often approach is consistent with recommendations of the Productivity Commission, National Commission of Audit and the Australian National Audit Office. The new CGRGs also contain report once, use often principles, which can be applied with respect to registered charities byusing the Charity Passport. Under the CGRGs, Commonwealth entities must have regard to information collected and made available by regulators, and should not seek this information from grant applicants/recipients.
The Charity Passport has the potential to significantly reduce the burden for charities of duplicative reporting to multiple government entities. The Charity Passport could therefore forma valuable part of entities’ contributions to the Government’s deregulation agenda and red tape reduction target.
The Charity Passport is being introduced in two phases:
Phase one uses a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) repository. This is operating now and authorised government entities can securely download the files they need using an FTP client or a web browser.
Phase two is a web service interface scheduled for implementation in early 2015. It will improve integration with government entities’ IT systems, increase data currency and improve the experience for entities that use it.
The ACNC has released ‘Report Once, Use Often: Charity Passport guide for government agencies’ to help explain the Charity Passport. Further information is also available on the ACNC website.
Want more information?
(02)62168908
The grants.gov.au project
The Department of Finance has been tasked to implement a whole-of-government, web accessible, electronic grants advertising, application, and reporting system, over four years.Grants.gov.au will not supersede government entities’ grants management systems. It will replace current advertisingapproaches, simplify grant application processes, support application lodgement, and replace web-based reporting of grants-awarded on entity websites.
Grants.gov.au is being implemented in three phases:
Phase one is nearing completion and has involved a scoping study to determine the requirements for the system.
Phase twoinvolves system design which will be based on the AusTender platform, as well as user testing (2014 to 2016).
Phase three involves piloting, training and implementation, with expected completion by mid 2017.
Key recommendations of phase one:
- grants.gov.au be mandatory for all non-corporate government entities, but optional for corporate government entities
- all Australian Government grants be advertised and reported on grants.gov.au, with limited exceptions
- the advertising, application and reporting functions should be mandated, with lodgement to be an optional function for government entities
- standardised information be used to advertise grant opportunities and report grants awarded.
Office of Deregulation
The Office of Deregulation, within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C), has a number of oversight roles to facilitate the reduction of red tape across government. TheGovernment has committed to cutting red and green tape by $1 billion a year, and Deregulation Units have been established in each portfolio, to implement the deregulation agenda.
Although the Office of Deregulation and the separate Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) work closely together, OBPR maintains responsibility for advice on Regulation Impact Statements. The broader responsibilities of the Office of Deregulation include coordination of Repeal Days. Documents associated with the first Repeal Day from 26 March 2014, are available online at
Not all deregulation measures require legislative amendment to implement. For example,streamliningofcompliance reportingprocessescanbe achievedthroughanadministrative decision.
One of the many measures announced on the first Repeal Day concerned the administration of medical research grants by the National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC), to implement an election commitment. Elements of this reform include a streamlined grant administration process for the NHMRC to reduce information requirements and initiate an early triage of grant applications unlikely to be successful. The NHMRC has also streamlined application and assessment processes, and extended some grants from three to five years to allow for greater certainty for grant recipients.
Given the scope of grants activities across the Commonwealth, there are likely to be further opportunities for streamlining grants administration to reduce red tape for business, community groups or individuals.Thelow-risk grant agreement template provides a starting point to streamline grants administration.
Focusing on the Achievement of Programme Outcomes When Awarding Grant Funding: An ANAO perspective
A key message from ANAO audits of grant programmes over the years, and highlighted in the ANAO’s grants administration Better Practice Guides, is that selecting the best grant applications promotes optimal outcomes for least administrative effort and cost. Another recurring theme in the ANAO’s audits of grants administration has been the importance of grant programmes being implemented in a manner that accords with published programme guidelines, and those applications that are funded are the ones most likely to further the programme’s objectives.
In this context, ANAO’s recent audit of the Building Better Regional Cities Program(BBRC) (Audit Report No.25 2013–14) highlighted the risks to achieving value for money programme outcomes when funding is awarded to projects assessed as lacking merit. Specifically, emphasis was given to spending the programme’s $100million budget, notwithstanding that the recommended applications were expected to deliver fewer than 60per cent of the programme target for additional affordable homes, and that most of the applications had been assessed by the department to lack sufficient merit and/or as not providing value for money. This situation was compounded when it was decided to apply unpublished eligibility criteria which meant that funding was denied to some of the better credentialed applications.
The award of programme funding in this manner has been reflected in the BBRC programme performing poorly in terms of delivering the benefits envisaged when the programme was announced. Specifically, the programme is costing more than was budgeted, is delivering significantly less in the way of additional affordable housing than the programme target and many of the contract projects have been delayed in delivery. Key recommendations from ANAO to guard against similar results from other programmes included that:
- advice to decision-makers address the extent to which the population of recommended projects are expected to deliver results that are consistent with the overall programme objectives and related performance targets;
- advice to decision-makers also address the merits of not awarding some or all of the available funding where a shortfall in programme performance is expected; and
- key programme design parameters and targets should be reflectedin published key performance indicators and reported against.
The Australian Research Council: An Entity Profile
The ARC is an Australian Government statutory agency. Its mission is to deliver policy and programmes that advance Australian research and innovation globally and benefit the community.
In seeking to achieve its mission, the ARC provides advice to the Government on research matters and administers the National Competitive Grants Programme (NCGP), along with Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA).
Through the NCGP, the ARC supports the highest-quality fundamental and applied research and research training through national competition across all disciplines (with the exception of clinical medicine and dentistry). ERA assesses research quality within Australia's higher education institutions and gives government, industry, business and the wider community assurance of the excellence of research conducted. It also provides a national stocktake, by research discipline areas, of
research strength against international benchmarks.
The NCGP comprises two main elements—Discovery and Linkage—under which the ARC funds a range of complementary schemes to: support researchers at different stages of their careers; build Australia’s research capability; expand and enhance research networks and collaborations; and develop prestigious centres of research excellence.
The ARC Assessment Cycle commences with the production of funding rules. There is a rigorous peer review assessment process that begins when a funding round closes to applications and prior to reaching the point of announcement. This process is demonstrated in the diagram below.
Want more information?
ARC website
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ARC Assessment Cycle
Grants News | 1