2.2 Following agreement by the Auditor-General to produce a yearly report on the DMO's major projects, the ANAO has, in consultation with the CEO DMO, developed a program to build up resources, knowledge and processes necessary to complete a review of up to 30 major projects in future years. This has required both agencies to develop plans to ensure that sufficient investment is committed early in the process to ensure this target is met.
2.3 Both DMO and the ANAO consult with the JCPAA as progress with the development of the report is made, to ensure that the report provided meets the objectives of enhancing the transparency and accountability for the performance of major acquisition projects.
2.4 The ANAO's approach to the review of the individual PDSSs contained in Part 3 of this report has been conducted in accordance with the Australian Standard on Assurance Engagements (ASAE) 3000 Assurance Engagements other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information issued by the Australian Auditing and Assurance Standards Board.
2.5 In accordance with the provisions of section 20(1)(c) of the Auditor-General Act 1997 and ASAE 3000, the ANAO and DMO have entered into an agreement relating to the review. As part of this process DMO has developed a set of Guidelines, in consultation with the ANAO, to provide a framework for the production and provision of the PDSSs and supporting information to the ANAO for review. These Guidelines have been distributed to the project offices responsible for the major projects, and have assisted in transitioning the project offices through this developing process.
2.6 A review does not provide the same level of assurance as an audit due to differences in the work effort involved. In other words, the resources devoted to this review of 15 projects is substantially less than the resources that would be required to undertake an audit of the 15 projects, for example a performance audit.
2.7 As a result, in some areas where data is inherently uncertain and where systems and processes are not sufficiently mature to provide confidence in the completeness or accuracy of information, considerable additional resources would be required by the ANAO to include these elements within the scope of the review to obtain an appropriate level of assurance. For example, in risk identification and for prospective information which relates to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur, such information has been excluded from the scope of our review at this time.