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- Potential applicants and other stakeholders may reasonably expect that program funding decisions will be made in a manner and on a basis consistent with the published program guidelines. While different conclusions as to which applications are most worthy of funding may legitimately be reached, it is important that the criteria being applied in reaching those conclusions be transparent to applicants, that applicants are afforded the opportunity to make their case against each of the criteria and that, for accountability purposes, the performance of competing applications against the criteria be appropriately recorded.
- The assessment focus should be on the substance of the contribution eligible applications are expected to make to the program achieving its objectives, not on how well the application is written.
- There is a greater likelihood of grant programs achieving their objectives where there has been appropriate and effective promotion of the funding opportunity to key target groups, and the application process has been designed with those key target groups in mind.
- Key terms should be defined in the grant agreement, as should the timeframe over which key responsibilities are to be delivered by the grant recipient.
- The reasons for decisions to award or not award grant funding should be recorded in a manner that promotes transparency and accountability. Where the guidelines allow consideration of factors in addition to the published criteria to be taken into account, those factors should be identified in the decision-making records and their impact on the success or otherwise of individual candidate projects recorded.
- It is poor practice for entities to be instructed what their advice should recommend, or for entities to recommend what they understand to be a preferred approach rather than providing their own recommendations that are developed through an evidence-based approach.
- Potential applicants and other stakeholders have a right to expect that program funding decisions will be made in a manner and on a basis consistent with the published program guidelines.
- An important element in designing a robust governance framework for a grant program is clearly identifying who will be deciding which applicants will receive a grant and ensuring that this person has the necessary legal authority to make those decisions.
- Where a decision-maker reaches a conclusion that differs from the department’s recommendations, the rationale for those divergences should be recorded in sufficient detail to allow entities to improve future assessments or processes, and to provide appropriate feedback to applicants.
- Programs with more than one stage of assessment, such as eligibility assessments followed by merit assessments, should take into account efficiency considerations when allocating work to assessors. Different assessors for each stage means more time is spent than may be necessary having each assessor familiarising themselves with the application.