Regular project reporting is important to keep key project stakeholders informed of its progress, risks and other challenges. Where corrective intervening action is required, these will need to be addressed or escalated to those responsible for the project’s governance.
Project reporting can take a variety of forms including meeting minutes, trackers, and formal reports, and may include:
- confirming the consistent application of government policies and compliance
- typical reporting and approvals within the governance structure
- Office of TAFE Coordination and Delivery (OTCD) reporting requirements as outlined in the OTCD capital works funding agreement (CWFA) (if funded externally), and
- regular monitoring and reporting with the contractor during delivery of the works.
Depending on the project’s funding source, you may also be required to provide reports to the OTCD using its nominated software system.
Additionally, high-value, high-risk (HVHR) projects are subject to extra scrutiny and ongoing involvement from the Department of Treasury and Finance (DTF), including supplementary project assurance .
Government policies and compliance reporting requirements
Each TAFE is required to report its compliance with key government policies on an annual basis. Under the Financial Management Act (FMA), the TAFE's accountable officer (Chief Operating Officer or delegate) is responsible for submitting an annual report to the Department of Education and Training (DET) and the auditor-general if applicable.
The TAFE’s annual report will cover operations undertaken for the previous financial year and includes a report of operations and financial statements prepared under section 45 of the FMA, as well as any other information required by the accountable officer.
The report of operations will include the TAFE’s compliance with the policies listed in the table below, which may require you to document compliance throughout the project lifecycle.
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Under the FMA, the TAFE's accountable officer (Chief Operating Officer (COO)) or delegate) must provide an annual report (report of operations and financial statements) to the OTCD. As a result of this, secretaries and the TAFE board may be required to attest to compliance with the mandatory requirements of the Asset Management Accountability Framework (AMAF) in the TAFE’s annual report (including the report of operations).
Application: All projects
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Under the Commercial Guidelines - TAFE Institutes, Guideline 10: Register of Major Commercial Activities and Report, the TAFE board is required to keep a register of ‘major commercial activities’, including public construction projects which the Board has considered sufficiently large in size and complexity. Depending on the TAFE's internal processes, this information may form part of its annual report (including the report of operations) required under the FMA.
Application: All projects
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Under the Financial Management Act Standing Directions (FMA), the accountable officer (Chief Operating Officer (COO)) or delegate) must provide an annual report (report of operations and financial statements) to the OTCD. Consequently, it is important to document operations (projects) and the associated compliance requirements under legislation and policies and provide appropriate attestation to the accountable officer as required.
Application: All projects
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Under the High-Value, High-Risk Framework, HVHR projects have a range of specific reporting . These include:
- providing quarterly progress updates through the major project performance report (co-ordinated by the Office of Projects Victoria (OPV)), and
- risk mitigation reporting in the form of a recommended action plan to the Treasurer (via the Department of Treasury and Finance) (if applicable).
Application: HVHR projects only.
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Under the FMA, the accountable officer must provide an annual report (report of operations and financial statements) to the OTCD.
The Local Jobs First Policy requires the TAFE to include compliance with the Local Jobs First Policy requirements in its report of operations. Therefore, you are encouraged to document compliance under the Local Jobs First Policy and provide appropriate attestation to the accountable officer as required.
Application: The Victorian Industry Participation Policy applies to all Local Jobs First standard projects which are defined as:
- regional or rural construction projects with a project value over $1m
- metropolitan or state-wide projects with a project value over $3m, and
- the Major Projects Skill Guarantee will apply to all construction projects valued over $20m.
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The TAFE may be required to submit reports on supplier performance in line with Instruction of the Ministerial Instructions for Public Construction Procurement.
Application:
- value of works equal to or greater than $500,000 (inclusive of GST)
- value of the contract for construction services (technical advisory services, not including commercial and financial, legal and probity advisory services) is equal to or greater than $200,000 (inclusive of GST), and
- with the exception of suppliers engaged under contracts that comply with the public-private partnerships requirements or the Victorian alliancing policy.
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Under the FMA, the accountable officer must provide an annual report (report of operations and financial statements) to the OTCD.
The Occupational Health and Act Safety Act (OH&S Act) requires the TAFE to include matters related to OH&S, including initiatives taken to ensure the health and safety of workers, in this annual report.
Therefore, you are encouraged to document compliance under the OH&S Act and provide appropriate attestation to the accountable officer as required.
Application: for projects where the value of works is equal to or greater than $350,000.
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Under the FMA, the accountable officer must provide an annual report (report of operations and financial statements) to the OTCD.
The Social Procurement Framework requires the TAFE to report on social procurement activities in its report of operations.
To support the required reporting on social procurement activities, you are encouraged to regularly measure outputs and provide appropriate attestation to the accountable officer as required.
Application: All projects
Reporting
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The project will include additional reporting requirements to internal bodies and government departments based on its governance structure. In addition to reporting at key project approval points across the project lifecycle, you may be required to produce regular status and progress reports.
For example, for externally funded projects, you may be required to provide status and progress reports to the project control group (PCG) on a fortnightly or monthly basis. For business-as-usual projects and some low complexity projects, status and progress reports may be provided to the executive management committee or the director of assets and facilities (or equivalent) as required.
You may wish to have a project steering committee (PSC) (in addition to the PCG) if you have a requirement for reporting to a number of additional stakeholders, such as central government agencies and industry partners.
Depending on the TAFE’s governance structure, all projects may also have reporting requirements to a board Committee on an aggregate (monthly, quarterly) or an expectations-basis (compliance and non-conformance issues).
For HVHR projects, you will be subject to further reporting to DTF and the Treasurer.
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If the project has been externally funded under a DET capital works funding agreement (CWFA), you may be required to undertake additional project reporting.
This may include a progress report, submitted in the format and reporting system required by the OTCD, and may include:
- expenditure to date on the project, including the source of funding
- progress of the project against project milestones, and
- risk management processes.
You may also be required to submit design documentation and any other relevant documentation specified in the CWFA to the OTCD for review.
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The contractor will be required to report to the project team throughout project delivery. You should ensure that the contract documentation incorporates reporting requirements you wish to enforce. These are likely to include the following:
- cost reporting, including reporting of the project cost to date, potential cost savings and other cost reporting
- program reporting including any potential risks to maintaining the program identified by the contractor
- reporting on any sub-contractors engaged to help complete the works
- reporting on communications and stakeholder matters
- reporting on compliance with government policies, including the Local Jobs First Policy, the Social Procurement Framework and OH&S regulations
- reporting on any requested and agreed variations, including the extension of times, and
- risk reporting, including contractor performance against pre-identified risks and any new risks arising throughout the project.
You may also wish to capture any other project-specific elements within the contractor’s reporting obligations that you, or the project director, are required to report to the PCG, PSC and other key stakeholders (where relevant) during delivery.
In addition to the typical contractor reporting requirements outlined above, you will also likely have obligations to report or respond to information requests from the contractor. You should familiarise yourself with these obligations in the contract.
Reviewed 22 March 2023