6Key Principles for Grants Administration

6 Key Principles for Grants Administration

6.1 This part of the CGGs sets out how to apply the key principles of grants administration. Whilst the CGGs contain a number of mandatory requirements, they provide flexibility in how agency staff can work together with stakeholders to design and undertake granting activities; identify and engage with risk; and achieve government policy outcomes.

6.2 The Australian Government has seven key principles for grants administration that apply to all forms of granting activity[54] and all processes and phases of grants administration. These key principles are:

• robust planning and design;

• collaboration and partnership;

• proportionality;

• an outcomes orientation;

• achieving value with public money;

• governance and accountability; and

• probity and transparency.

6.3 Chief Executives and agency staff must put in place practices and procedures to ensure that grants administration is conducted in a manner that is consistent with these seven key principles. Ensuring that the requirements of the CGGs are well understood and effectively incorporated into the design and administration of any granting activity is important to ensure that the potential grant recipients best suited to undertake grant funded activities apply for and receive a grant.

6.4 The CGGs provide the framework within which Chief Executives may issue Chief Executives Instructions (CEIs) and associated operational guidance related to grants administration within the specific agency. Chief Executives are encouraged to use the Commonwealth’s Model CEIs[55] as the basis for their own CEIs, as this will reduce the risk of misinterpreting the requirements of the financial management framework and promote consistency across agencies.

6.5 Agency staff should work together with key stakeholders, both within government and outside of government, through all phases of grants administration, such as the design and development of grant guidelines and application processes.[56] Agency staff should build productive relationships with grant applicants and recipients to collaboratively achieve government policy outcomes.