To In Where Program Design

ANAO Report No.11 2014–15 The Award of Grants under the Clean Technology Program 62 Figure 2.2: Example of a recommendation sheet from the CTFFIC Clean Technology Food and Foundries Investment Committee assessment: Merit rating: 69.8 Merit ranking: NA Recommendation: Supported Recommendation reason: The Committee recommends that the Program Delegate approves funding of up to 50 of eligible project expenditure for a Clean Technology Food and Foundries Investment Program grant up to a maximum of ,. Chair’s Name: Name Signature: Signature Date: Date FF Applicant Name Source: ANAO adaptation from IA Committee Recommendations.

2.55 It

would be reasonable to expect that the value added by the specialist knowledge of the IA committees with external members would be reflected in there being greater variation between committee assessment scores and departmental assessment reports. The department has advised ANAO that it anticipated that this would be the case, but ANAO’s analysis was that the program was not implemented in a way that ensured the reasons for differences were appropriately recorded for accountability and related purposes.

2.56 In

this context, Figure 2.3 demonstrates that there was greater consistency between the department’s records and the records of the departmental committee compared to the other IA committees. Specifically, for 75 per cent of applications considered by the departmental committee the scores were consistent with the departmental assessment; but this fell to 18 per cent of applications for the other IA committees. Accordingly, while the departmental assessment reports provide some basis for explaining three‐ quarters of the recommendations made by the departmental committee, they not surprisingly provide only limited explanation for the recommendations of the other IA committees. ‐ ANAO Report No.11 2014–15 The Award of Grants under the Clean Technology Program 63 Figure 2.3: Comparison of merit score in the documentation provided Source: ANAO analysis of AusIndustry data.

2.57 In

September 2014, an IA committee chair advised ANAO that the relevant committee had held ‘detailed, meaningful and complex’ discussions and that: As