As Against A Advice to the Program Delegate and Funding Decisions

ANAO Report No.11 2014–15 The Award of Grants under the Clean Technology Program 122 Recommendation No.4

5.28 To

promote a stronger outcomes orientation in the administration of future grant programs, the ANAO recommends that the Department of Industry: a clearly identifies, in advice provided to decision‐makers, the extent to which assessed projects are expected to deliver outcomes that are consistent with the overall program objective and related performance targets; and b include, as a requirement in respective funding agreements, the expected outcomes that informed decisions to award funding. Department of Industry’s response:

5.29 Part

a: Agreed.

5.30 Part

b: Agree in‐principle. The Department notes that it would not always be appropriate to include programme level outcomes as a contractual obligation for individual grant recipients. ANAO Report No.11 2014–15 The Award of Grants under the Clean Technology Program 123

6. Reporting and Funding Distribution

This chapter examines compliance with relevant grant reporting obligations and analyses the distribution of funding. Introduction

6.1 The

Commonwealth’s grants administration framework addresses the distribution of funding awarded under grant programs and includes various reporting obligations in relation to approved grants. In this context, ANAO examined the website reporting of approved grants and the distribution of funding awarded under the programs. Grant reporting

6.2 Website

reporting of individual grants was introduced by the Australian Government to promote transparency and accountability. 142 At the time that the program delegate made the majority of funding decisions, the requirement to publish information on individual grants was set out in the 2009 version of the CGGs. The CGGs required that each agency publish information on individual grants on its website no later than seven working days after the funding agreement for the grant took effect. These reporting obligations were updated in the CGGs issued in June 2013, with the main change being an extension of the timeframe for agencies to publish information on their websites from seven to 14 days. The department advised ANAO in October 2014 that: Over the life of the program there were 25 breaches recorded as part of the Certificate of Compliance process where the reporting was not undertaken within the 7 or 14 day period out of a total of 603 applications.

6.3 In

addition to timely reporting, it is also important to publish consistent information on grants. This matter was highlighted in the July 2008 report of the Strategic Review of the Administration of Australian Government Grant Programs. The information to be reported for each grant, and a template to be used for reporting purposes was outlined in Finance Circular 200904 Grants— Reporting Requirements released in June 2009 and Finance Circular 201302 142 Mr Peter Grant PSM, Strategic Review of the Administration of Australian Government Grant Programs, 31 July 2008, p. 10. ‐ ‐