Bush Selection of Discretionary Grants

ANAO Report No.10 2014–15 Administration of the Biodiversity Fund Program 84

6. Establishment and Management of Funding Agreements

This chapter examines Environment’s development and ongoing management of Biodiversity Fund program funding agreements. Introduction

6.1 Funding

agreements or grant agreements are used to formalise the provision of funding to a grant recipient. The agreements specify the terms and conditions of the grant, including the expected deliverables from the grant recipient. A well drafted and carefully considered funding agreement, tailored to the specific granting activities, contributes to the achievement of the objectives of the program.

6.2 The

ANAO examined Environment’s processes for the development and execution of funding agreements, and management of funded projects including reporting requirements, milestone payments, agreement variations and compliance activities. Developing and executing funding agreements

6.3 In

total, 334 projects were funded under the Biodiversity Fund program’s competitive funding rounds—313 through Round 1, 18 through Round 2, and three through the Northern Australia Targeted Investment NATI round. 119 The ANAO reviewed Environment’s approach to developing and executing these funding agreements, including the use of template agreements, negotiating and executing the agreements, issues raised by stakeholders regarding the timing and budget profiles in Round 1 agreements, and variations to funding agreements. Funding agreement templates

6.4 For

Round 1 approved projects, Environment developed a short form and long form funding agreement template. The short form funding agreement was for projects with a value of up to 80 000 and where the term of the agreement 119 While five projects were approved for funding in the Investing in Tasmania’s Native Forests round, ultimately none proceeded due to the 2013 Federal Election and a subsequent decision by the incoming Government not to proceed with the funding for projects without a funding agreement in place at the time. This is discussed further in this chapter from paragraphs 6.9 to 6.10.