{"id":"F2018L01585","name":"PGPA Act Determination (SDO Special Account 2018)","slug":"pgpa-act-determination-sdo-special-account-2018","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":439837,"registerId":"F2018L01585-fast-fetch-1775955708508","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-12","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"PGPA Act Determination (SDO Special Account 2018)","content":"---\nmeta-content-style-type: text/css\nmeta-content-type: application/xhtml+xml; charset=utf-8\n---\n\n?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" standalone=\"no\"?>\n\n![](image.001.jpeg)\n\n \n\n \n\nPGPA Act Determination (SDO Special Account 2018)\n\nI, MATHIAS HUBERT PAUL CORMANN, Minister for Finance and the Public Service, make the following determination.\n\nDated  20 / 11 / 2018\n\nMATHIAS HUBERT PAUL CORMANN\n\nMinister for Finance and the Public Service\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nContents\n\nPart 1—Establishment \n\n1  Name \n\n2  Commencement.............................................\n\n3  Authority.................................................\n\n4  Definitions................................................\n\n5  Establishment of the special account.................................\n\n6  Accountable authority responsible for the special account.....................\n\nPart 2—Special account credits and debits \n\n7  Amounts that may be credited to the special account........................\n\n8  Purposes of the special account....................................\n\n \n\nPart 1—Establishment\n\n \n\n1  Name\n\n  This instrument is the PGPA Act Determination (SDO Special Account 2018).\n\n2  Commencement\n\n (1) Each provision of this instrument specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.\n\n \n\n| Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Provisions | Commencement | Date/Details |\n| The whole of this instrument | The day mentioned in paragraph 79(5)(a) of the Act. |  |\n\n\n (2) Any information in column 3 of the table is not part of this instrument. Information may be inserted in this column, or information in it may be edited, in any version of this instrument published on the Federal Register of Legislation.\n\n3  Authority\n\n  This instrument is made under subsections 78(1) and 78(3) of the Act.\n\n4  Definitions\n\n  In this instrument:\n\nAct means the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.\n\nAct means the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.\n\nconsumer entity means a General Government Sector entity or other government who enters into an agreement with the SDO in relation to shared corporate services.\n\nFinance means the department that the SDO forms part of.\n\nGeneral Government Sector entity means a Commonwealth entity or Commonwealth company that is classified as being within the General Government Sector, as determined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in accordance with the Standard Institutional Sector Classification of Australia.\n\nICT means information and communications technology. \n\nService Delivery Office (SDO) means the group of Commonwealth officials responsible for delivering shared corporate services to consumer entities. \n\n \n\nshared corporate services has the meaning given in subsection 8(2) of this determination.\n\nthe special account means the SDO Special Account 2018 established by this determination.\n\n5  Establishment of the special account\n\n  For paragraph 78(1)(a) of the Act, the SDO Special Account 2018 is established as a special account (the special account).\n\n6  Accountable authority responsible for the special account\n\n  For paragraph 78(1)(d) of the Act, the accountable authority responsible for the special account is the Secretary of Finance.\n\n \n\nPart 2—Special account credits and debits\n\n \n\n7  Amounts that may be credited to the special account\n\n  For paragraph 78(1)(b) of the Act, the following amounts may be credited to the special account:\n\n1.                 amounts received in the course of the performance of functions that relate to one or more purposes of the special account;\n2.                 amounts received from any person for one or more purposes of the special account.\n\n\n8  Purposes of the special account\n\n (1) For paragraph 78(1)(c) of the Act, the purposes of the special account, in relation to which amounts may be debited from the special account, are:\n\n1.                      to make payments related to the delivery of shared corporate services by the SDO to and on behalf of consumer entities;\n\n\n (b) to make payments in relation to purchasing, developing and operating ICT systems, software and services, and other assets, for use by the SDO in delivering shared corporate services;\n\n (c) to make payments in relation to the sale or transfer of ICT or other assets to or by the SDO;\n\n (d) to make payments to carry out activities that are incidental to a purpose mentioned in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) above, including, but not limited to:\n\n  (i) the administration of the special account;\n\n  (ii) employee costs, including entitlements and benefits; and\n\n  (iii) dealing with direct and indirect costs.\n\n (e) to repay amounts where a court order, Act or other law requires or permits the repayment of an amount received;\n\n (f) to reduce the balance of the special account (and, therefore, the available appropriation for the account) without making a real or notional payment.\n\n (2) For paragraphs 8(1)(a) to (c) above, shared corporate services means the corporate support activities provided by the SDO to consumer entities which include but are not limited to:\n\n(a)   financial services such as accounts payable and accounts receivable;\n\n(b)  contract, procurement and grants support;\n\n(c)  management of credit cards and travel;\n\n(d)  management of internal accounts and records;\n\n(e)  payroll and human resources administration;\n\n (f) the operation, maintenance and upgrade of associated software, systems and process management required to deliver the activities described in paragraphs (a) to (e) above and other services as required;\n\n (g) processes and systems to analyse data produced and recorded as a result of the activities described in paragraphs (a) to (f) above; and\n\n (h) provision of advice and expertise to consumer entities in relation to the activities described in paragraphs (a) to (g) above.\n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation remains tightly focused on its original purpose: establishing a specific special account for the Service Delivery Office to provide shared corporate services. The scope has not expanded beyond this administrative mechanism."},"complexity_factors":["Short document (only 8 sections across 2 Parts)","Minimal cross-referencing (only references to the parent PGPA Act and itself)","Straightforward structure: establishment rules followed by financial rules","7 defined terms in section 4, all with clear, practical definitions","No nested exceptions or conditional logic beyond basic 'may be credited' and 'purposes are' formulations","Single accountable authority designated (Secretary of Finance) with no alternates or contingencies","Purpose clauses (section 8) use simple enumerated list format without complex provisos"],"plain_english_summary":"The legislation establishes the \"SDO Special Account 2018\" to hold and manage funds for a new Service Delivery Office in the Department of Finance that provides shared back‑office corporate services to other Australian government agencies. It lets agencies pay for services into a dedicated cost‑recovery account, which is used to deliver services, buy supporting IT, pay staff and administer refunds—keeping service fees separate from general revenue and supporting efficiency through shared services."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This instrument formally establishes the SDO Special Account and specifies permitted credits and debits tied to delivering shared corporate services and related ICT/admin activities (s5–s8). It does not expand the SDO’s listed functions beyond those set out in the determination (including the services enumerated in s8(2)); it therefore appears consistent with the stated purpose rather than changing the SDO’s scope."},"complexity_factors":["Direct cross-reference to PGPA Act paragraphs (establishment/credits/debits/accountable authority) increases legal formality but keeps substance narrow (see s5–s8 referencing s78 of the Act).","Broad income description: 'amounts received' and 'amounts received from any person' is open-ended and may require administrative rules to define chargeable items and invoicing (s7).","Operational complexity in administering inter-entity charging and cost allocation across consumer entities, including payroll and employee entitlements (s8(1)(d)(ii)).","ICT lifecycle provisions cover purchasing, developing, operating, selling and transferring assets—creates multi-stage asset and procurement management obligations (s8(1)(b)–(c)).","Power to 'reduce the balance… without making a real or notional payment' creates an accounting mechanism that needs internal policy to apply consistently (s8(1)(f)).","Accountable authority concentration: Secretary of Finance holds responsibility for the special account, leaving administrative discretion with Finance (s6).","Definitions tie consumer entity status to ABS classification and link 'Finance' and 'SDO' to departmental structure, which can create classification and boundary questions in practice (definitions, s4).","Commencement hooks into PGPA Act timing rules (paragraph 79(5)(a)), requiring attention to statutory commencement mechanics (s2)."],"plain_english_summary":"Establishes the SDO Special Account 2018 to receive payments and fund the Service Delivery Office’s shared corporate services. The Secretary of Finance is the accountable authority (s6). Amounts credited include receipts from performing SDO functions and payments from any person (s7); debits may fund service delivery, ICT procurement/operation, asset transfers, admin and employee costs, repayments required by law, and reducing the account balance without payment (s8). Affects consumer entities and parties who pay or use SDO services."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/pgpa-act-determination-sdo-special-account-2018","history":"/api/acts/pgpa-act-determination-sdo-special-account-2018/history","analysis":"/api/acts/pgpa-act-determination-sdo-special-account-2018/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/pgpa-act-determination-sdo-special-account-2018/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/pgpa-act-determination-sdo-special-account-2018/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/pgpa-act-determination-sdo-special-account-2018/documents"}}