An audit of the effectiveness of agreement arrangements between Services Australia and other entities in supporting the delivery of services and payments has found that the systems in place are largely effective.
In his report Bilateral Agreement Arrangements Between Services Australia and Other Entities, the Auditor-General, Grant Hehir said Services Australia’s agreement framework with the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (DAWE), Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) and the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) was effective and the agreements were generally comprehensive.
Mr Hehir said an audit of Services Australia’s bilateral arrangements provided a baseline for the effectiveness of existing arrangements and identified areas for improvement at a time when Services Australia was reviewing its arrangements with other Australian Government entities.
“The bilateral agreement arrangements between Services Australia and Agriculture, DVA and NDIA are largely effective,” Mr Hehir said.
“In managing agreements, improvements are required in risk management, specifying roles and responsibilities and performance measurement.”
He said there was limited effectiveness in performance monitoring and reporting arrangements between Servies Australia and the three entities, with missing service levels, inconsistent reporting and a lack of analysis of performance reports by the three entities receiving services.
“Only four of the 13 bilateral agreement documents reviewed for the three entities contained all 11 elements expected in a bilateral agreement with the main exceptions in risk management, performance measures, and roles and responsibilities,” Mr Hehir said.
The Auditor-General made three recommendations relating to risk management, performance measures and bilateral communication.
Services Australia, DVA and DAWE all agreed with the recommendations.
The Auditor-General’s online report can be accessed at this PS News link and the 78-page printed report at this link.
The audit team was Renina Boyd, Anne Kent, Sonya Carter, Christine Sherman and Andrew Morris.
