Policy and public interest considerations may impact the viability of the project delivery options being considered.
A preliminary public interest assessment will have been undertaken for each of the project delivery options during preliminary assessment (stage 2).
During business case development it is necessary to complete public interest assessment for the project delivery options, to assess consistency with the public interest. This assessment may identify public interest issues that may impact on the development and delivery of the project. These impacts may be either qualitative or quantitative in nature, and will require estimation. Issues identified may affect project costs or benefits and therefore could have a material affect on the public sector comparator or partnership model.
It is recommended that the government project team engage with particular interest groups or relevant statutory authorities at an early stage of the project in order to mitigate the risks relating to these issues.
For each project delivery option, the matters given consideration during the public interest assessment should include such issues as:
• the effectiveness in meeting the service requirement
• the impact on stakeholders
• accountability and transparency
• public access and equity
• consumer rights
• security
• privacy.
When assessing public interest considerations, due regard should also be given to any matters impacting on the achievement of government's priorities.
Unlike the financial and economic assessments that focus principally on the final overall net impact, a key theme of the public interest assessment is to consider the "distributional' consequences of moving from the current state to alternative states.
Agencies should also make reference to the social analysis sections of the Queensland Treasury Project Evaluation Guidelines (March 1997) and the draft Queensland Treasury Business Case Guidelines, which provides additional guidance on social outcomes.