Partnerships Victoria documentation states that the ultimate accountability for projects 'may rest with government, even though the contractual responsibility for certain deliverables is transferred to the private party'.200 The Committee noted the Department of Treasury and Finance guidelines which stated that these demanding reporting and procedural standards should make service provision transparent under a Partnerships Victoria project.201
The Auditor-General indicated in his submission that he was concerned about the ongoing oversight and monitoring arrangements for PPPs, and the potential to lose corporate memory over the life of the contract:202
Typically … the specific purposes of project teams are established … However, once the arrangements are established and operating, these teams generally are dispersed, with a resultant loss of detailed knowledge of the arrangements. This represents a major issue impacting on the effective ongoing oversight of the arrangements … A further issue that emerges from these long term 'outsourcing' arrangements is that, over time, there is a loss of expertise in the effective oversight of these arrangements given that the state may no longer be involved in areas similar to those subject to PPPs, and therefore individuals responsible for oversight functions may not fully appreciate the associated management issues. Therefore, it is important that effective strategies are developed by the public sector to mitigate these risks. This is particularly important given the public sector's ongoing duty of care associated with key aspects of public sector service delivery.
Ministerial accountability for these projects seemed to be implicit and across multiple portfolios and including the Minister for Finance, the relevant portfolio Minister and the Minister for Major Projects.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
200 Department of Treasury and Finance, Contract Management Guide, June 2003, p.68
201 Appendix H of the Contract Management Guide also provides guidance as to public sector accountability, access to information in government contracts, with particular reference to the Freedom of Information Act, and commercial in confidence materials, disclosure of contractual information, Whistleblower Protection Act, the Public Records Act, and the confidentiality of Cabinet documents and Privacy legislation
202 Mr W Cameron, (then) Victorian Auditor-General, submission no.13, p.5