Frequently Asked Questions

We are commissioning because we acknowledge that:

• our current funding practices lack flexibility to respond to community needs
• investment in service provision has primarily been skewed towards provision of crisis services rather than services providing early support
• prevention and early support can reduce crisis service demand and provide better outcomes for people
• sector partners and people with lived experience have valuable insights and expertise to inform service and system design
• where we have worked together to identify needs and gaps and design solutions, people have better outcomes.

Commissioning presents the opportunity to make a case for funding where funding is needed after exploring ways to strengthen cost-effective service delivery. In this way commissioning can enhance funding needs identified by non-government organisations through the ACT Budget submission process.

We are also working on broader sector sustainability initiatives that ensure efficient and effective use of funds by a strong, vibrant, diverse sector.

Together we are identifying emerging and unmet community needs through commissioning. Yet we are also identifying where service delivery may be misaligned to funding intentions or community needs or outcomes.

To date we are commissioning within the funding provisions for existing services, supports and programs. A case for additional funding may be made where commissioning identifies community needs that cannot be met by recalibrating existing funding, service delivery or adopting innovative practices.  It is the role of Government to make funding decisions through the annual budget process where it seeks to balance a range of competing priorities.

We assess what is achievable within the ACT by undertaking engagement across the sector, testing the market, and exploring best practices in service delivery.

There are a range of sources of national information on population and demographics, but these are only as useful as the data they collect.  There are gaps.  Directorates recognise that organisations within sub-sectors have important knowledge about their respective areas of service delivery and target population groups, which will contribute to informing our understanding of need. As a result, needs analysis will be developed in partnership with sector partners.

We have enhanced the commissioning practice guidance in 2022 and continue to support each commissioning cycle with resources, advice, and training through the commissioning website, open to both government and non-government organisations.

We are working with sector peaks to develop training and supports for identified skills and capacity gaps from now till 2024.

We have forums, regular newsletters, an active calendar, and sector in progress pages to help you stay update, learn about commissioning, discuss challenges, and connect with commissioning cycles.

We work with sector organisations – funded and currently not funded – to promote commissioning collaboration and engagement opportunities through their channels and networks too.

There are a few different reasons why an organisation might have interest in multiple portfolios or multiple commissioning processes. They may be an advocacy or representative organisation for a particular priority population group.  They may be a peak for a sub-sector or industry. Or they may be a larger NGO delivering numerous services.

Our human services system and the services and programs within it, are meeting a wide range of needs of a diverse community. This is the challenge of intersectionality. We recognise that intersectionality can prompt non-government organisations to repeat their advocacy and insights while participating in multiple commissioning cycles. This can create participation and advocacy fatigue.

Non-government organisations can explore ways to provide input once for the benefit of multiple commissioning cycles by using the Commissioning Roadmap to plan. We welcome the opportunity to explore with individuals and organisations options to consolidate insights, lived experience stories and identified service gaps into a format that can be recorded and shared by the ACT Government and used to inform multiple activities or multiple commissioning cycles.

Some Non-government organisations deliver a range of services through more than one contract, perhaps with more than one government directorate.  These larger organisations will need to engage with more than one commissioning process but we welcome the chance to discuss how to make this manageable.

If this situation affects your organisation, please raise any concerns you have directly with a commissioning Directorate: CSDCommissioning@act.gov.au

Our human services system and the services and programs within it, are meeting the needs of a diverse community. To gain a realistic picture of community need, commissioning cycles involve a wide range of advocacy and lived experience perspectives. This is the challenge of intersectionality.

We recognise that intersectionality can prompt non-government organisations to repeat their advocacy and insights while participating in multiple commissioning cycles. This can create participation and advocacy fatigue.

Non-government organisations can explore ways to provide input once for the benefit of multiple commissioning cycles by using the Commissioning Roadmap to plan. If an organisation represents a priority population as defined through the ACT Wellbeing Framework, then Commissioners will work to provide an option to consolidate insights, lived experience stories and identified service gaps into a format that can be recorded and shared by the ACT Government and used to inform multiple activities or multiple commissioning cycles.

If this situation affects your organisation, please raise any concerns you have directly with a commissioning Directorate: CSDCommissioning@act.gov.au

Commissioning could commence for a range of reasons. The most common reason now is that current contract arrangements are coming to an end, this provides the opportunity to reflect on what services are required for the future.  Commissioning can also be used as a tool to enable ongoing improvement during the life of a contract, or to scope how to respond to recognised service gaps or unmet needs.  It may also support the implementation planning that follows the release of a major strategy or policy report.  The Government is engaging with the various subsectors about the timing for commissioning and ensuring transparency about timing via the commissioning roadmap.

Evidence is built in numerous ways.  It may be through reviews or policy development processes underway for specific subsectors, or through research, clinical trials, pilot programs, and outcomes reports. Hearing the perspectives of people with lived experience is also an important part of the evidence base. Evidence by itself isn’t enough, so commissioning involves dialogue, co-design and shared decision making about the best way to design and deliver services for the future.

The directorates draw on existing evidence to inform the initial needs analysis for each subsector. The Commissioning approach will ensure that service users and the NGO sector will have opportunity to contribute to further development of understanding the needs in the community. This will vary by service, depending on the evidence that is available, but will usually include: available data to inform underlying community health and social support status and needs; available local, national and international literature; direct input from community members, including service users, their families & carers, and service providers.

No services have been identified for decommissioning at this stage. If future commissioning cycle activities and engagements identify that reduced or changed demand for a service has occurred, significant discussion will take place with the organisation on how to refocus its service offering to meet areas of demand and transition planning will ensure a smooth process of refocussing service provision and supporting transitions for organisations, staff and service users. Where competitive tendering is a preferred pathway and results in decommissioning for an existing provider, appropriate transition out planning and implementation will be arranged.

Commissioning doesn’t always involve competition, particularly where there is no market of providers that could deliver a specific tailored service to a specific population group.  Part of the commissioning process is to understand where there are markets and where there are not. Fair competition is a healthy way for organisations to demonstrate how they are the right option, for government to determine that it is getting the best value for money, while service users are getting the best possible service to meet their needs.  Commissioners need to consider a range of factors when deciding which services should be determined through a competitive process. Government has a range of ways in which it can go about selecting where to invest its funding and importantly, has systems and processes in place to ensure that it goes about this with rigour, fairness and probity.

There are many ways to ensure that commissioning processes are including the perspectives and voices of people who use services. These include drawing on what service users have already said through past evaluation and feedback processes. They can also be invited to participate through interviews, focus groups, or workshops and to act as validators to confirm whether a proposed service design will meet their needs.

Probity means ensuring a fair process that complies with legislation and community expectations. More information about probity can be found on the Procurement ACT website.  There are ways to continue to engage with the sector through some steps of procurement or grant processes.

Through the development of the commissioning approach, CSD and ACTHD have engaged closely with Procurement ACT and the Government Procurement Board, who have provided advice on managing conflicts of interest and probity concerns. All commissioning processes will also be informed by the recently released Probity in Procurement Guide. Additionally, for high profile processes, a Probity Adviser may be engaged.

The roadmap provides subsectors with an indication of the proposed commissioning pathways based on current information and planning. Some services may receive shorter term extensions in the lead up to commissioning processes that wont be complete before 2024, while others will enter into longer term funding arrangements during the invest phase of commissioning within the next 2 years.

Government recognises that commissioning processes provide it with confidence that its investment is well targeted, and it is achieving value for money through its contract partners.  This means in some circumstances it can shift to longer term contract timeframes. This will support continuity for service users, provide a greater degree of workforce stability for funded providers and allow more time to innovate and adapt service delivery to meet community needs. As part of ongoing partnership between government and the provider, periodic reviews of performance and costs will be undertaken to ensure value for money continues to be achieved. Service and service system performance will be reviewed and measured collaboratively between ACTHD/CSD and sector partners with a focus on achieving meaningful and sustainable outcomes for service users and building evidence about the impact of the investment.

Commissioning aims to change the way that government, non-government organisations and community members partner to design and deliver services to meet community needs. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander self-determination is a key tenant and priority for commissioning as a 10-year reform. We respect and support the right of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community to control their destinies and to have decision-making power over the things that affect the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.  We recognise that the contemporary social and economic circumstances of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are inextricably linked to ongoing and previous generations experiences of past practice and policies. The consequences of past practices and policies are far-reaching and intergenerational, continuing to play out in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s interactions with all human service systems.

Through Commissioning, we seek to design, invest in, and deliver culturally safe services that foster truth-telling, healing, connection, and positive outcomes for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community of Canberra.

Guided by Traditional Custodians, Elders and First Nations Community Controlled Organisations, commissioning cycles and practices are adapted for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander services and programs. We adjust commissioning process to be culturally safe and meet engagement needs. We ensure we are working through genuine community-led solutions, and we look for opportunities to improve culturally safe service delivery across the sector, system, and services. Cultivating culturally responsive services across Canberra improves equitable access and choice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

We encourage self-determination by fostering the growth of First Nations Community Controlled Organisations and First Nations Providers within the Canberra community. This means more services, programs, and supports delivered by community for community.  Where new First Nations organisations are formed to respond to community need, we may adjust the investment process or approach, to support them as they establish within Canberra, grow skills and capability, or expand their capacity for service delivery.

Commissioning is about more than reviewing the existing funding streams that support services for the community. It is intended to be a long-term reform that leads to a more integrated service system that can respond with the right mix of services at the right time and right place for a person. To achieve that aim, each commissioning process is exploring how it can improve integration and interfaces with other parts of the human services system. There are also a range of other reform challenges that are outlined in the 2024 Roadmap.  We will be working across all of these challenges to build towards commissioning of systems rather than individual service elements, but this will take time.