Evaluation Plan

3.13  The Office of the Infrastructure Coordinator documented an Evaluation Plan to cover the development of the Interim Priority List. The approach outlined in the Evaluation Plan was consistent with the published Prioritisation Methodology. This approach represented sound practice.

3.14  The Evaluation Plan contained a detailed and systematic process for evaluating submissions, in order to establish an Interim Priority List. It was to be used to assist evaluate submissions from State and Territory governments, industry and the public.96 The ten‐step staged process outlined in the Evaluation Plan is in Figure 3.2. Whilst the ten‐step staged process outlined in the Evaluation Plan suggested a linear approach to the assessment of proposals, in May 2010 the Office of the Infrastructure Coordinator advised ANAO that:

In fact, as noted in the Outline of Infrastructure Australia's Prioritisation Methodology, Infrastructure Australia's process brought together the profiling and appraisal assessments. This was at the core of the merit matrix identified in the Evaluation Plan. The matrix allowed projects with varying ratings from their profiling and appraisal assessments to be recommended as priority projects. Thus, projects with a poor profiling assessment were still assessed against the appraisal criteria, with the project's ultimate merit (and location in the merit matrix) determined on the basis of a combination of both the profiling and appraisal assessments.

Figure 3.2  Process for evaluation as outlined in the Evaluation Plan for the Interim Priority List

Source:  ANAO analysis of Infrastructure Australia data.

3.15  In May 2010, the Office of the Infrastructure Coordinator advised ANAO that:

While [the] Infrastructure Australia [Council] did not consider a detailed evaluation plan, it had been advised at meetings in August and October 2008 of the architecture of the evaluation methodology.

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96  See paragraph 1.1.7 of the Evaluation Plan.