Performance In Governance Arrangements

‐  ‐  ‐ ‐  ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ANAO Report No.10 2014–15 Administration of the Biodiversity Fund Program 43 There was also scope for the department to have developed interim or proxy measures that would have been used to measure performance pending the development of new KPIs.

2.29 As

outlined earlier, the monitoring activities to be undertaken under the MERI Framework also include targeted on‐ground scientific monitoring and broad landscape‐scale monitoring. Environment has undertaken a range of activities to prepare for and underpin scientific and landscape‐scale monitoring as part of the MERI Framework. However, as at November 2014, the on‐ground scientific monitoring program had yet to be implemented due to resourcing constraints, with work to progress the implementation of broad‐scale monitoring activities at an early stage. Conclusion

2.30 The

arrangements established for the Biodiversity Fund program, including a Project Board that received regular progress reports, provided an appropriate level of oversight of the program. Environment also produced a range of planning and risk assessment documents that were intended to underpin the delivery of the overarching LSP and the individual funding rounds under the Biodiversity Fund program. The development and regular review of a program‐level implementation plan would have better positioned the department to address longer‐term delivery issues. There was also scope for the department to have better refined its risk identification and mitigation processes to address the risks specific to each funding round.

2.31 The

department has established and reported against KPIs for the Biodiversity Fund program, although performance information has generally been focused at the activity level. In recent years, Biodiversity Fund program KPIs have been augmented with additional measures that directly relate to achievement of the program’s objectives and the department’s broader outcomes, with implementation of the MERI Framework providing the basis for reporting on outcome‐level achievements into the future. While the ANAO’s review of the implementation of the MERI Framework has been limited to the early stages of the on‐ground reporting system, the planned framework, if implemented in its entirety, has the potential to provide a sound basis for the department to report on the outcomes of long‐term environmental projects, such as the Biodiversity Fund program. ANAO Report No.10 2014–15 Administration of the Biodiversity Fund Program 44

3. Access to the Biodiversity Fund Program

This chapter examines access to the Biodiversity Fund program, including stakeholder engagement, development of the program’s grant guidelines, and preparation for the grant assessment and selection process. Introduction

3.1 An

early and important consideration in the design of a grants program is establishing the process by which potential grant recipients will be able to access the program. 54 The ANAO examined Environment’s approach to ensuring