Common Service Agreement

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New Common Service Agreement for the Department of Communities

The Department of Communities common service agreement aims to standardise terms of funding, streamline reporting requirements, simplify language and provide clarity in government expectations across all Departmental service areas. The new agreement will provide the impetus for further reforms such as consolidated reporting and the move to output funding.

 
The new common Service Agreement and Small Grants Agreement has been uploaded with a Facts Sheet onto the Department of Communities website. This common agreement is now being used by at least eight service areas in negotiating service agreements for new funding, as well as renewals of existing agreements.

The new agreement seeks to standardise terms of funding across service areas, while allowing for contextualisation and service specifications relating to the legal and business requirements of each service area. It brings into alignment a number of previously diverse business practices and will provide the building blocks for further reforms, such as the streamlining of reporting requirements and the move to output funding and reporting.

An implementation and communication strategy has been underway since mid April to inform departmental staff and service providers about this new initiative. Strategies have included letters to service providers, meetings with service providers whose agreements are schedule to expire in the next few months and presentations to regional and service area specific NGO forums, as well as a range of strategies undertaken by the various service areas in the department.